Comatose
by gummibar
Summary: New to Earth, Aelita starts discovering what it really means to love someone and be loved. But just as her and Jeremie begin to form a relationship, things take a drastic turn, and her friends-especially Jeremie-are left alone, confused, desperate...and broken. This was my very first piece of writing, please forgive the atrocious out-of-characterness. JxA.
1. That's What Love Is

"Return to the past, now!"

The gang teleports to just a few hours prior, another successful end to XANA's attacks in the world of Lyoko. They are gathered outside in the velvety green grass of Kadic Academy's campus, beneath the cool shade of a towering Oak tree on this warm day. Yumi and Ulrich are seated on a bench side by side, enjoying each other's company along with the breeze from the tree's leaves. Aelita is sitting on the grass, leaning against the rigid tree trunk, her nose in a book. Jeremie sits against the tree as well, but strangely, on the opposite side of Aelita. Odd is the only one who is not relaxed. In fact, he can hardly keep still.

"Wasn't that so much fun? I swear I could never get tired of this!" Odd exclaimed, prancing around and mocking his moves performed back in the virtual world.

"Odd, I don't think you should joke around like that and consider nearly dying every other day 'fun.'" Ulrich scoffed. Odd stopped in his tracks and shot Ulrich a look of disappointment.

"Oh come on, Ulrich. If you haven't nearly died then you haven't lived!"

"Um, yeah, I think that's the point." Odd continued to prance around as if he were still in his Lyoko attire, shooting arrows out of his imaginary oversized paws. Ulrich rose up off of the bench, and turned towards Jeremie. "Hey Jeremie, what's up?" he inquired. Jeremie sat solemnly by himself, not muttering a word to any of his friends, not even Aelita.

"XANA's attacks get stronger with each activated tower," Jeremie fearfully sighed. "We cannot keep going on like this, risking not only our own lives but especially Aelita's. I stay up until two in the morning every night straining my cerebral cortex until it practically explodes trying to find the cure, the answer to creating Aelita's anti-virus… but I never get any closer. While I'm getting weaker, XANA is getting stronger. I worry we are running out of time." Jeremie exhaled deeply, and buried his head in his knees. Ulrich pitied Jeremie and the stress he was under, but he didn't know what to do, say, or even think. Aelita rose.

"Jeremie, is this anti-virus really that important? I think we need to weigh out the pros and cons here, Jeremie. Perhaps it would be better if we just… shut off the computer." The group gasped at her outrageous suggestion. Of course the Lyoko warriors wouldn't let their entire motivation for defeating XANA slip away that easily!

"Aelita, you'll die!" screamed Ulrich.

"But maybe it's best. The con is losing one of us, but the pro is keeping four of us. Maybe I should just be virtualized back into Lyoko, and then you can shut down XANA for good… Jeremie, I can't stand to see you tear apart your body like this from sleep deprivation and stress."

"No." Jeremie snapped. "I will never do that. Absolutely not, I can't believe you even suggested that Aelita! Can't you just appreciate what I'm trying to do for you, instead of trying to have me pity you and essentially murder you?" Aelita was taken aback by Jeremie's harsh words. "Oh Gosh Aelita I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped, I'm sorry…"

"This is exactly what I'm talking about." Aelita scoffed and stormed away to the girl's dormitory.

"Aelita, please wait!" Jeremie started after her, but Yumi quickly jumped up and yanked on his skinny little arm.

"I'll follow her," she offered. "I think it's time for a little one-on-one girl talk. A little bit of chocolate, some ice cream, I'll go rent _The Vow_, everything will be okay. Don't get yourself more worked up than you already are, Jeremie. The girl can't stay mad at you for very long, even if she tries her hardest." Yumi waved goodbye, winked at Ulrich, and then trotted away to find Aelita.

"Hey don't be rude, Ulrich! Say good-bye to your girlfriend!" Odd sarcastically exclaimed.

"Oh, shut up, Odd. She's not my girlfriend…"

"Oh yeah well then what is she? I saw that wink!"

"She's just my friend! Don't you have something better to do Odd, like, not be around me?" Ulrich walked away. Not wanting to sit around with just Odd by his side, Jeremie stood up as well and started to walk away.

"Hey now where are you going?" Odd cried out.

"I'm going to work on the anti-virus some more. I can't give up." Jeremie disappeared from Odd's sight, and Odd collapsed onto the grass. Having nothing better to do now that all of his friends had other plans, he stared at a squirrel running up the tree.

_Back in Aelita's dorm…_

Aelita curled up in her blankets, listening to the sound of her television but not paying any attention to what was on screen. She sluggishly rolled over and grabbed one of her teddy bears.

"Oh Mr. Fluffles," she whispered. "I'm confused. I want to be angry at Jeremie, but I find it physically impossible to do so. Do you know why that is, Mr. Fluffles?" The bear stared back at her lifelessly. Obviously. It's a stuffed animal. Suddenly, Aelita heard a knock on her door.

"Knock, knock."

"Who's there?"

"Just your friendly Asian pal, Yumi. Can I come in?"

"Uh, uh…" Aelita scrambled to put away her bear and straighten things up. She didn't want Yumi knowing she was just lying in her bed asking a stuffed ani mal for advice. "Yeah, that's fine, come on in." Yumi opened the door and walked in, her arms full of DVDs, pints of ice cream, and chocolate bars.

"Hi," Yumi smiled.

"What's all this for?"

"I know you're upset from earlier, so I figured I would try and cheer you up."

"Why is a bunch of chocolate going to cheer me up?"

"Aw, you're still so innocent and unaware of your own gender. Just trust me…here, I brought a movie too." Yumi walked over to the television and popped in the DVD. She then walked over to Aelita's bed and sat by her side, offering her a pint of cookies and cream ice cream along with a spoon.

"Thank you," Aelita muttered. She opened the container and hesitantly dug the spoon into the creamy blend of Oreo cookies and vanilla ice cream. "Wow, this is good."

"I know." Yumi opened her own container of ice cream and began to munch along with Aelita. "So, Aelita, can I ask exactly why you suggested we give up and shut down the computer?" Aelita sulked.

"I don't know," she replied. "I just wasn't thinking straight, which is hard to do when I'm around Jeremie for some reason. I hate seeing him suffer, he's always showing up late to class and he never gets enough sleep, so I just wanted to hurry up and find an easy way out for his sake."

"You must really care about him, Aelita."

"Of course, I mean he is one of my best friends. But I mean… I feel differently towards him than I do my other friends. Not the same way I feel about you, Odd, or Ulrich. I'm not sure why."

"Hmm, like… how?"

"Well… I feel really happy whenever he's around, and I get this weird feeling in my stomach. It kinda feels like there's a bunch of butterflies fluttering around in my tummy!"

"Yeah that's why they call it butterflies…. I think someone named Aelita is in love with someone named Jeremie…" Yumi teased, but then her face turned serious. _Uh oh, _she immediately though. _I shouldn't have said that. Now she is going to go beg someone to tell her what it means, and then Jeremie will find out indirectly, and it will just be a big mess in general if other people get involved… _

"I'm in what?" Aelita didn't know what the word "love" meant. Although she had been devirtualized for quite some time, there were some very common things that she still didn't understand.

"Nothing, it's not a big deal or anything." Yumi quickly tried to erase her words. She wanted to let Aelita and Jeremie find each other on their own, not with the interference of everyone else, or Aelita's overly inquisitive mind.

"But Yumi, you sure said it like it was a big deal!"

"Just shut up and eat your ice cream." Aelita silently obeyed. _I'll find out one way or another… _she thought to herself. _If it's not a big deal like Yumi says, it shouldn't be a big deal for me to ask someone else! _Aelita was a very curious individual, and couldn't wait to find out what this expression to "love" meant.

"Oh by the way, um…don't bring this up to anyone. Yeah, it's an unofficial female rule. What happens in your dorm stays in your dorm. Just go find a dictionary." Yumi demanded.

_In Jeremie's dorm…_

It was another late night for Jeremie. He incessantly tapped on his computer; calculate, analyze, scan, repeat. Yet he still seemed to be getting nowhere closer to conducting Aelita's anti-virus. Every time he booted it up, his computer crashed and erased everything.

"I can do this…" he muttered through his gritted teeth. Beads of sweat dripped from his temples, gliding across his cheeks and dripping off of his nose. He spat as the salty taste met his lips. "I'm so close, I can feel it! I'll try this, it has to work, I'm SURE of it!" Jeremie impatiently rummaged through the oodles of text books and documents spread across his desk and floor. His floor wasn't much carpet anymore, and may as well have turned into one big textbook itself. "Here!" Jeremie screamed. He picked up a folder that had AELITA ANTI-VIRUS TRIAL #32 written on it. It was the closest he had come so far, but it was numerous trials ago and he had only gotten farther since then. "If I combine the success from this trial with the success from my current trial I bet both of them combined will finally work. Right now is the closest I've gotten since my 32nd try." He ran back to his desk and input the information, tap tap tapping away. Jeremie's fingers cramped, and he had begun to show signs of carpal tunnel, but that wouldn't stop him. Nothing would stop him… until he heard a sweet, familiar voice at his door.

"Jeremie?" Aelita stood outside of his dormitory, whispering, as it was past hours and she wasn't supposed to be in the boy's dorm to begin with. "Are you in there?"

"What is she doing here?" Jeremie silently said under his breath. He glanced at the clock by his bed, 12:03 A.M.

"…Jeremie?" Aelita pressed her ear against his door. "I guess he went to be-AHH!" Jeremie opened his door without realizing Aelita was leaning against it, causing her to tumble onto the floor and on top of him. They both blushed and Aelita became too flustered to speak. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

"H… hi…" Jeremie stuttered. Aelita rolled over and shot up from the floor, straightening out her dress and fixing her hair. Jeremie did the same, nervously brushing himself off as if were a germaphobe who had just used a public restroom. He then regained his composure, and cleared his throat. "Aelita," he started. "I need to apologize for earlier. I shouldn't have snapped at you, I'm really sorry."

"It's okay Jeremie. It's my fault for suggesting something so stupid. Anyways, I didn't come here to dig an apology out of you and make you pity yourself."

"Okay. Well, why ARE you here then?"

"I just had a question to ask you," Aelita giggled at the thought of what she was about to say to Jeremie. She didn't know why, but for some reason, she was nervous.

"That's why you're here? To ask me a question? At quarter past midnight? It couldn't wait until tomorrow? You know, normal waking hours?"

"Well, I suppose it could have, since Yumi said it's not a big deal..." _Oh great, _Jeremie thought. _Yumi's involved. I wonder what kind of crap she loaded into Aelita earlier. _"Anyways, I couldn't sleep 'cause I kept thinking about it. You're always up late anyway. Hey, whatcha doin?" Aelita walked over to Jeremie's computer desk.

"Aelita, please don't mess with anything, I'm so close…" Aelita sighed.

"Yeah yeah, anti-virus, I know." Aelita walked over to Jeremie. "Jeremie…."

"Yes, Aelita?"

"Well, earlier, when I was with Yumi, she said something to me about you, but then quickly tried to pretend like nothing happened and said it didn't matter."

"Uh huh…"

"Well, she told me this word that I didn't quite recognize: love." Jeremie froze as soon as he heard Aelita speak that term. Somehow, it sounded nice hearing her soothing voice utter the word "love." Nonetheless, Jeremie didn't like where this was going. "I don't know what love means, Jeremie, but I would like to. Yumi wouldn't tell me. I don't know why. I looked it up in a dictionary, but I kind of want an easier explanation, you know? Especially since it was one of your dictionaries I was looking at."

"Well, Aelita, hey! How did you get into my dictionary collection?" Aelita snickered and winked.

"Jeremie, what is love?"

"Um, I think there's a Haddaway song that could answer your questions for you."

"Oh, Jeremie… please, will you tell me what love is?" Aelita pleaded, looking upon Jeremie and batting her innocent, radiating eyes. Jeremie couldn't resist. He sighed.

"Well, Aelita… love is… love is…" Jeremie paused. How was he supposed to explain something even he didn't know about? "Love is defined as a profoundly tender, passionate affection for someone. It's an emotion, an emotion that majority of people really want to experience. Some take it too far, and become in love with the idea of falling in love. You'll notice that among most of the girls here at Kadic. Um, love… love is also very challenging and hurtful. It might seem like a lot of fun, but, true love develops from the hardships. It's the couples who sometimes can't stand to look each other, but keep on going and growing stronger each day, that are really in love. Not what you see in movies, like a movie you probably watched with Yumi earlier." Jeremie looked at Aelita to see if she was following what he was saying. She seemed enthralled with his words, and sat cross legged on his bed gazing up at him. Her glance alone told Jeremie she wanted more.

"Please keep going Jeremie. I want to hear more." Aelita smiled. Her smile was so beautiful. Warmth filled Jeremie's heart whenever she saw Aelita's dazzling grin, how could he possibly say no to her?

"In those movies, that kind of love just magically falls into place without any work, but that doesn't happen in real life. It takes a lot of hard work, but in the end it's worth it. It's a never ending journey too. You don't just fall out of love just like that. There's a difference between love and in love, too. Like, I love Odd. When I don't hate him, that is. He's my friend, and he's cool, but I don't want to marry him or anything, you know? You love your family members and your friends, but its boyfriends and girlfriends where you would use the term in love. Make sense?" Aelita nodded. Jeremie began to get lost in his words, pacing around his disaster of a bedroom floor, teaching like he knew exactly what he was talking about. "Being in love is a really powerful emotion. Being in love means you would do absolutely anything for that person, just to see them smile. They are more important than anything else in the entire world. Being in love means that whenever they need you, you'll drop everything to rush to their side. It means feeling bliss and happiness when they're happy, and feeling sad when they're sad too. It means… thinking about her every second of every day…" Jeremie stopped in his tracks, his back turned to Aelita. "It means doing everything you can to keep her alive... It means staying up past two in the morning every night when you have school the following day, to try and find the anti-virus that will keep her safe and here on Earth." Jeremie was afraid to turn around to Aelita. Aelita remained seated, overwhelmed with a powerful happiness and a funny feeling in her stomach. She felt nervous, and excited at the same time.

"So, that's what love is?" she asked. Jeremie slowly turned around to Aelita. They stared at each other for a long moment, with blank expressions at first. No words were spoken. Jeremie looked Aelita up and down, from head to toe. Oh how beautiful she was. Her skin was so fair, practically glowing. Her hair was so beautiful and looked so soft, the color of it absolutely ravishing. The corners of her cute little mouth spread into her beautiful wide smile, making her seem even more gorgeous. A small smile made its way onto Jeremie's nerve-wrecked face.

"Yeah," said Jeremie. "That's what love is."


	2. Right in Front of You

As the morning sun rose above the horizon, its blinding rays of sunshine slowly crept through the window upon Aelita's face. The bright light awoke her from her peaceful slumber. Aelita opened her tired eyes, squinting at first due to the sunlight. An intense feeling of comfort and contentment filled her body. Aelita let out a soft moan, raised her arms above her head and stretched her body as much as she could; sluggishly letting her limbs drop and relax afterwards. As her arm fell to the bed, it knocked against something hard.

"Huh?" Aelita became confused. She turned over to see what she had hit… Jeremie! Jeremie's head! What was Jeremie doing in her dorm? Then Aelita looked around and paid more attention to her surroundings. This wasn't Aelita's dorm, this was Jeremie's! So the question then, was what was she doing in Jeremie's room? Aelita was so confused that she became frightened, because she couldn't remember anything from the night prior or why she was in Jeremie's bed. Jeremie was soon awoken by the sounds of Aelita scurrying around.

"Good morning, Aelita." Jeremie said with a warm smile on his face.

"Good morning? I think? Jeremie, what happened last night?"

"Haha, don't worry Aelita. Nothing crazy. After our long discussion about what it meant to love someone, well, for some reason I got really nervous. So we just sat there staring at each other because neither of us knew what to say. Eventually, I had to get up and use the bathroom. When I came back, you were knocked out on my bed. You just looked so peaceful, and I didn't want to disturb you… I also didn't want to get caught walking around the dorm halls with a girl lying limp in my arms. So, I thought I would just let you be.

"So…you just helped yourself into bed next to me, then?" Aelita raised an eyebrow. Jeremie blushed and flashed a nervous smile.

"Uh, well, I lied down on my floor for a little bit… but uh… I just couldn't resist curling up next to you. And once I was lying next to you, I also couldn't resist putting my arm around you. I'm sorry Aelita, I crossed the line, and I shouldn't have done that." Jeremie's face was completely flushed and bright red. He was so embarrassed and worried that Aelita would be angry.

"I think that's sweet of you, Jeremie. You don't need to apologize. In fact, that was the best sleep I've had in a very long time. I don't think I want to get out of bed today, do you?" Aelita smiled at Jeremie, hoping he would catch the hint. Jeremie responded with a nervous laugh.

_In Ulrich and Odd's dorm…_

"UNO!" Odd shouted, throwing his pile of cards down.

"WHAT?" Ulrich pulled at his hair, completely enraged.

"Haha, sucker! You lose, AGAIN!"

"You cheated! You had to!"

"I cheated? How does one cheat in Uno, Ulrich?"

"I don't know, but you found a way! And these dumb cards are probably rigged, too."

"Aw don't be such a sore loser Ulrich!" Odd laughed and winked. Ulrich glared at Odd and threw his cards across the room, watching them float about and land in various places. "Hey!" Odd shouted. "I'm not cleaning that up!"

"Hey what do you know, we have something in common then." Ulrich smirked.

"Oh whatever, I'm going to walk down the hall to get a soda out of the vending machine, you want something? My treat for the sore loser!"

"I oughta…. Ugh I guess I can't hurt you if you're gonna buy me something. A coke would be fine." Odd nodded and walked out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. Ulrich fell back onto his bed and relaxed.

Odd wandered down the dormitory hallway of Kadic Academy, venturing toward the vending machine. For some reason, the hallway was completely empty. It was cold, the lighting seemed dimmer than usual, and with each step Odd grew more cautious. Something ominous was about, he could feel it. Odd finally reached the vending machine. He inserted three dollars and pressed the button for a Grape flavored Sunkist. Nothing happened.

"Huh?" Odd pressed the button again. This time, an electrical impulse ran from the tip of his finger through his entire body. "OUCH!" He yelled. Suddenly, the price of drinks labeled on the machine's digital screen was replaced with the target symbol that everyone in the gang was all too familiar with. Odd's eyes widened, he gasped and backed away. Suddenly, bottles of soda flung out of the machine continuously, knocking Odd against the wall. He screamed. Out of the machine's vending slot, numerous amounts of wiring came creeping and slowly wrapped around Odd. "HELP!" he shouted, hoping Ulrich would be able to hear him down the hall. "ULRICH!" The wiring began to electrocute Odd, causing him to wince in pain and scream some more.

Back in the dorm, Ulrich was lying in bed listening to loud German Rock music on his iPod. His eyes were closed, his earphones were in, and the entire world was tuned out.

_Hmmm…_ Ulrich thought to himself. _Odd has been gone for a while. It doesn't take that long to get a couple of sodas… then again, it is Odd. I'm pretty sure he was dropped as a baby. _Ulrich could hear a very faint noise under the music, but unaware that it was his friend's cries for help, he simply turned up his music.

The machine tightened its grip on Odd. He was starting to become dizzy and confused, not getting a large enough oxygen supply to his brain from the attack. Electricity pulsed through the machine, the wires, and through Odd's own body. All of the power in one small area short circuited the machine, and the entire electricity supply for the dorms was knocked out.

Ulrich sat up in bed as he saw his lights go out. He pulled out his earphones, music still playing, and looked around confused. Luckily, it was only two in the afternoon, so the sunlight through his window was enough to help him see.

"Something weird is going on," Ulrich suggested. Then, he heard the desperate screams of Odd from down the hallway. Ulrich's eyes widened. "XANA!"

"ALL I WANTED WAS A SODA," Odd cried, pounding at the wires wrapped around his body. "HELP! LET ME GO YOU STUPID MACHINE!" Ulrich showed up, barely in the nick of time. He could hear Odd's cries, but he couldn't exactly see him. The brief sparks of electricity didn't give Ulrich a vivid enough image of what was happening.

"ODD!" He screamed.

"ULRICH! HELP ME! XANA'S GONE CRAZY!"

"Don't worry Odd!" Ulrich grabbed the mini flashlight off of his keys, but it was barely enough to let him see anything. "I don't know what to do!" Ulrich was clueless. He watched the XANA possessed soda machine practically suck the life out of his friend. Ulrich searched the machine, using his hands to guide him, but every button he pressed seemed to do nothing. Ulrich crawled down on the ground, searching for the power outlet. "ODD, I'M GOING TO UNPLUG THE MACHINE!" he informed.

"Hu….hurry…!" Odd panted. The wiring had become so tight that Odd was losing his consciousness. Ulrich yanked out the power cord of the machine. Nothing happened. Ulrich was in shock.

"IT DIDN'T WORK! AHH!" Ulrich became frantic.

"Ul…rich…"

"HANG ON ODD! I'M GOING TO GO GET JEREMIE AND THE REST OF THE GANG!" This time, there was no answer. Odd had been knocked unconscious. Ulrich was terrified, worried that they wouldn't be able to get to the tower in time before Odd lost the chance of ever waking up. He sprinted down the hall.

_Back in Jeremie's dorm…_

Aelita and Jeremie snuggled in bed together. They were both looking into each other's eyes and smiling. Aelita couldn't have been any happier at that moment.

_I think someone named Aelita is in love with someone named Jeremie… _Yumi's voice echoed in her head. Is what Aelita was feeling really love? She wanted to be in love, but then she'd just be one of those girls in love with being in love. She felt like she loved Jeremie, but how could she really know if she hadn't even been on Earth long enough to know about it? Did Jeremie love Aelita too? It sounded like it from the way that he talked last night, how else could he know so much? But at the same time, he's so intelligent… it wouldn't be surprising if he just researched it himself. Aelita began to think so much that she became frustrated. Jeremie noticed Aelita's facial change.

"Aelita, what's wrong?" he asked. Aelita looked at Jeremie and smiled.

"Jeremie…" she started. "Last night, you sure sounded like you knew what you were talking about. Have you been in love before, Jeremie? Is that how you know so much?" Jeremie gulped and just stared at Aelita. He started to think of an answer, but was interrupted by a powerful banging on his door.

"JEREMIE!" Ulrich bellowed, incessantly pounding away. "JEREMIE! XANA HAS LAUNCHED AN ATTACK, AND ODD IS IN DANGER!" Aelita and Jeremie both sprang up out of bed.

"Oh, NO!" They both cried in unison. Not even bothering to change out of their pajamas, Aelita and Jeremie met with Ulrich outside the door.

"Woah, Aelita? Have you been in there since last ni-" Ulrich questioned, but Jeremie quickly interrupted him.

"I'll explain later, but right now there's not enough time! Hurry to the factory, and somebody get ahold of Yumi!" Ulrich pulled out his phone and dialed Yumi's number. She didn't answer.

Out the door, into the sewer, through the tunnel, across the bridge, and down the rope. Jeremie hurried to the supercomputer room, while Ulrich and Aelita dashed into the elevator.

"Odd's under attack, and we can't get ahold of Yumi. It looks like you guys are on your own, can you handle that?" Jeremie radioed.

"No problem, Jeremie. We got this." Ulrich confidently replied.

"Alright, here we go….. Virtualization!"

_Back at Kadic…_

Yumi casually walked down the hallway with her hands in her pockets. She hadn't heard from any of her friends today, and wanted to know what they were up to. So far, she had checked Aelita, Odd, and Jeremie's dorms. None of them were there, and the fact that the power had gone out made her uneasy. She pulled out her cell phone to use as a flashlight.

"Well, I may not be able to get it to make a phone call, but at least it's still useful for something. I wish I knew why this dumb thing wasn't working though. I sure hope Jeremie hasn't tried to call me today about an attack." Suddenly, Yumi heard the snapping and crackling of electrical charges. "That doesn't sound good; I bet that has something to do with the power outage." Yumi ran towards the noise, where she stumbled upon the horrific sight of Odd's unconscious body entangled in a bunch of electrical wires. Yumi could see the electricity pulsing into Odd's body. "Odd!" she gasped, running towards him. Yumi went to shake him, but was immediately electrocuted and fell backwards. She lay on the ground, grunting and slipping in and out of consciousness.

_In Lyoko…_

"The tower is right there!" Aelita screamed.

"Well hurry up then, I don't have all day you know!" Ulrich was quickly becoming cornered by a herd of Krabs. He pulled out his sword and positioned himself for attack, as Aelita quickly merged into the tower and began her routine. She closed her eyes and let herself float up onto the platform, placing her hand on the screen where the tower recognized her as Aelita. She entered the code: Lyoko.

"Tower, deactivated."

"Return to the past, now!"

The gang is all together again outside of Kadic academy, hanging at their usual spot by the vending machines outside.

"Hey Odd, you know I never did get my cola." Ulrich chuckled.

"Yeah yeah, hey you know I risked my life for you trying to get that drink so I think you're the one that owes me!" Odd snapped. Ulrich simply looked at him and smiled.

"So Yumi, where were you earlier?" Ulrich asked.

"Well, my phone wasn't working for some reason, so I didn't get your calls. I went looking for you, and instead I found Odd. XANA managed to knock me out too while I was there, so you guys deactivated that tower just in time." Yumi replied. The Lyoko warriors were all happily standing around and chatting with each other. While Odd, Yumi and Ulrich engaged in playful conversation, Aelita turned to Jeremie and smiled at him.

"You know Jeremie," she said. "I never got the answer to my question earlier." Jeremie turned to face Aelita and smiled in return.

"The answer is yes, Aelita." Aelita displayed a small amount of shock on her face.

"When? With who?" she eagerly inquired. Jeremie took both of Aelita's hands and looked into her eyes.

"Right now. She's standing right in front of me."


	3. Backfire

From that moment on, nearly every waking minute of Aelita's time was spent with Jeremie. Even when he was busy on his computer, she would sit on his bed and do her homework, or just sit next to him and watch him type away. He always seemed to know exactly what he was doing, and, quite frankly, Aelita found it very attractive. When Jeremie wasn't glued to the computer, or Aelita wasn't stuck in Lyoko fleeing from XANA trying to deactivate a tower, the two would walk in the park, go see a movie, get ice cream together, and do a large variety of other things. Jeremie took Aelita to try her first ice cream cone, and she decided that her favorite flavor was Pistachio. Sitting in Aelita's dorm was a glass of water that had a small tulip sitting inside. Jeremie had picked it for her one day while they were sitting in a garden. The two would happily walk hand in hand, but Jeremie would still freeze up every time Aelita simply kissed him on the cheek. She wondered when she would ever get her first real kiss from him, if ever that is.

One night, Aelita just couldn't fall asleep. She snuggled in bed with Mr. Puck, grinning from ear to ear. The moonlight crept through the cracks in Aelita's window blinds, leaving a faint glow on her carpet. Crickets were faintly chirping outside of her window, and a gentle breeze rubbed the tree branches against one another.

_What a wonderful feeling this is, being in love… _she thought to herself. _Or at least, I hope I'm in love. What if I'm not? I'm just so confused, how can I be sure? Oh, I'm overthinking again… I think I should just talk to Yumi once more. Tomorrow though. Get some sleep, Aelita. Come on. It's late. _Aelita rolled over and flung her blanket over her head, shutting her eyes tightly. Ten minutes later she was still lying in bed wide awake. She couldn't stop thinking about Jeremie and wanted the sun to hurry up and rise so she could go find Yumi. Aelita sat up in bed and sighed.

"It's hopeless," she said. "I'm never going to fall asleep." Aelita threw her blanket to the side and got up. "At least, not here."

_In Jeremie's Dorm…_

Jeremie leaned back in his computer chair and cracked his knuckles. It was another late night spent researching the key to Aelita's anti-virus. Jeremie grabbed a rag from his desk to wipe the sweat off of his forehead, and chugged the water bottle next to him. The bright screen of his computer's monitor was straining his eyes, and his fingers and wrists were locking up from back-to-back hours of computing. He was exhausted and had only achieved three hours of sleep in the past two days. The main reason Jeremie always stayed up so late was because XANA never seemed to attack during the night, leaving the late nights and early mornings virtually the only time he had to himself to work. Jeremie reclined his chair and gently closed his eyes.

"I'll just rest my eyes for a bit… then I'll get back to wo... to work…." Jeremie said to himself, as he quickly dozed off. Gentle snores began to escape from his mouth, and his arms flopped over the sides of his chair. Then, a sudden tapping on his door jolted him awake. "AH!" he screamed, disoriented. "XANA!"

"Uh, not quite." Aelita whispered from the other side of Jeremie's door. Jeremie sluggishly left the comfort of his computer chair and went to open the door.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be asleep?" he asked.

"I should ask you the same thing. I can't fall asleep though, and I was just wondering if I could sleep here again like I did a couple weeks ago. It sure wasn't hard to fall asleep that night." Aelita gazed up at Jeremie and smiled. "Please?" Jeremie smiled back.

"Haha, alright. Come on." Jeremie lay down in his bed and scooted over, making room for Aelita. He patted the empty spot next to him and smiled. Aelita happily walked over and buried herself into Jeremie's chest.

"Jeremie?" she whispered.

"Yes, Aelita?"

"I don't ever want this to end." She looked into his eyes and smiled.

"Neither do I… so it won't." He smiled back at her.

"Good night, Jeremie."

"Good night, Aelita." Aelita was asleep within minutes, but Jeremie just stared at his ceiling. Once he was sure Aelita was fast asleep, he quietly crawled out of the covers and tip-toed over to his computer chair.

"No time for sleep tonight," Jeremie thought. "Almost done..." Jeremie hesitantly pressed one last button, and did a practice run of the anti-virus. He stared at his computer screen, crossing his fingers. "Come on… come on…" he begged. The scan finished, and a green plus sign encased in a circle began to spin around on the computer screen. Jeremie's jaw dropped. "I can't believe it…" he jumped out of his chair and shouted for joy. "I DID IT!" Aelita woke up, startled.

"Huh?" she looked over at Jeremie dancing around his computer.

_The following afternoon…_

After lunch break, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi were standing at their usual spot on Kadic's campus. Odd was attempting to pick a drink from the vending machine. After a long debate between hot chocolate and vanilla bean coffee, Ulrich rage pushed one of the buttons for Odd. Odd yelled at Ulrich for making him get black coffee, and then Jeremie walked in with a large grin on his face. He was quick to share the good news.

"Wow!" Yumi exclaimed. "So you really did it this time huh?"

"I sure did," Jeremie said, with a smug look on his face.

"Well it looks like Einstein has once again held true to his title!" Odd yelped. "We can go to the factory today and run the anti-virus, and then we can finally shut down the computer!"

"I can't wait. Aelita will finally be free." Jeremie replied.

"Bummer though, I was just getting used to life as a giant purple cat. Now what will I do in my free time without XANA around?"

"Same thing you always do," Ulrich butted in. "Annoy the crap out of me with your stupid dog."

"Hey don't talk about Kiwi like that!" The gang all snickered.

"So have you told Aelita yet?" Asked Yumi.

"No, not yet. I'm not really sure how to, this is just so insane! I don't know what I did differently, but whatever it is it worked."

"Alright, well there's just one class left." Just as Ulrich said that, the bell rang. "Speak of the devil. After class, we all go straight to the factory!" the Lyoko warriors all nodded in agreement.

_At the factory…_

Jeremie decided to take a break from Math for the day and head straight to the factory.

"I won't run the program just yet…" he said to himself, "But I'll go ahead and set it up. Make sure everything is perfected and ready to go!" Jeremie climbed out of the manhole and eagerly ran across the bridge, slid down the rope and ran to the laboratory. He positioned himself in the chair and booted up the supercomputer's interface. In his hand, he held the CD that contained the programming for Aelita's anti-virus. "Today's the day…" he said. "I can't believe it. Just when I was about to give up!" Jeremie inserted the CD and ran the program. He did another test run to make sure everything was still working. Once again, the scan finished and the program had worked properly. Jeremie smiled, but then quickly frowned. "This is all so wonderful, but… too wonderful. I hope XANA takes a day off today… right now, everything is too good to be true." Jeremie entered some of Lyoko's coordinates and transferred the anti-virus program into one of the towers. "Well… here we go. Everything is ready." Jeremie turned the chair around and walked away to meet with his friends on campus. As Jeremie climbed up the ladder and left the lab, XANA's symbol appeared on the screen.  
The bell rang at Kadic, and Yumi, Ulrich, Aelita and Odd rushed out of the doors.

"Where was Jeremie today?" said Aelita. "I haven't seen him at all, is he okay?"

"Oh, he's better than okay," said Odd. "You're in for a real treat princess!"

"I am?" Aelita inquired.

"Oh yeah, Jeremie's got a big surprise for you today!" Yumi eagerly responded.

"A surprise? For me? I like surprises… I wonder what it could be."

"Well you're about to find out," Ulrich smiled. "Look, there's Jeremie!" Jeremie came running towards the group, waving and smiling.

"Hey guys!" he said. "Are you ready?" The entire gang responded positively.

"Hey why weren't you in math today Jeremie?" asked Odd, as the entire gang began walking through the park and to the factory.

"Oh, I just decided to take the day off and get things ready."

"You, taking a day off from Math? That doesn't sound right Jeremie, are you sure you aren't possessed by XANA?" Odd laughed.

"Hey don't joke about that," replied Ulrich, sternly. "The last thing we need today is XANA's interference." Once at the factory, instead of heading the scanners as usual, everyone followed Jeremie to the lab.

"Aelita, you'll be taking a solo trip to Lyoko today." Jeremie said. Aelita jumped back.

"What? Why? Has XANA attacked? And you're sending me to Lyoko alone? Are you insane?"

"Well, maybe a little, but, no. XANA is sleeping like a baby today, to our luck. Our little surprise is waiting for you in a tower out in the Polar region. Don't worry, Aelita." Odd walked over to Aelita and began pushing her towards the scanners.

"Off you go now, Princess!" Aelita was still so confused.

Jeremie hopped into the computer chair, and his friends crowded around. He put on his headset.

"Alright Aelita, are you ready?"

"I guess so," Aelita muttered through the headset.

"Here we go! Trasnfer, Aelita! Scanner, Aelita! Virtualization!" Aelita virtualized into Lyoko, and dropped down onto the icy path of the Polar region.

"Okay, now what?" she said.

"Aelita, straight ahead of you should be a tower. Go inside of it, your surprise is waiting for you."

"Jeremie, the tower is glowing green!"

"I know. That's because I'm the one who activated it." Jeremie closed his eyes and smiled. Aelita entered the tower, and was carried up to the next platform. There, a screen was waiting for her handprint. She touched it, and it recognized her as Aelita. Another interface popped up, with another spot waiting for her hand print.

"Aelita, do you know what's in front of you?" asked Jeremie.

"No." Back in the real world, Jeremie and his friends were all on the edge of their seats with excitement, waiting for the moment Aelita was freed from Lyoko.

"Aelita…"

"Yes, Jeremie."

"It's your anti-virus."

"Oh, Jeremie! You did it?" Aelita gasped. She eagerly started playing around with the interface, exploring away and launching the carefully perfected program Jeremie had supplied.

"Aelita, I'm going to materialize you back into Earth now." Jeremie ran the program to materialize Aelita and the gang quickly ran down to the scanner room. Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremie all stood in front of the center scanner, waiting for the moment that Aelita returned from Lyoko.

"I can't believe this is really happening," said Yumi. "It's so exciting." Out of the entire group, Odd was the only one who didn't appear ecstatic.

"What's wrong Odd?" asked Ulrich.

"I don't know… I've just got this bad feeling…"

"Hey don't be a Debbie downer Odd come on, I've been waiting for this forever so don't ruin it!" Jeremie snapped. Odd maintained a worried look on his face.

"Hey calm down you two, don't ruin the happy moment," Ulrich alleged. Suddenly, the scanner doors opened. The group awed and leaned forward. The moment of truth. As the smoke from the scanner cleared, Aelita stood for a moment without muttering a word. She looked around as if she had no idea who any of the people in front of her were. Suddenly, she plunged forward and collapsed onto the floor. A small grunt escaped her mouth, and her eyelids slowly fell shut. Her entire body relaxed, her mouth fell open, and she ceased to move. The entire group became paralyzed with shock.

"Aelita!" Jeremie gasped, running to her.

"Do you think the program was just a little rough on her?" Yumi suggested. Jeremie knelt on the ground next to Aelita, and lifted her into his arms. She lay there lifelessly; Jeremie could barely hear her breathing.

"Aelita!" he shouted. "Aelita, answer me! Come on! Wake up, Aelita!" Aelita gave no response. Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich stared down at Aelita. Jeremie became frantic.

"I… I don't understand…" Odd said.

"I ran the program twice, everything worked perfect, I don't know what happened…" Jeremie ran his fingers through Aelita's hair. Her skin had become paler than it usually was. She was cold. "Aelita… please wake up." Jeremie begged. He held her close to him. Odd knelt down and put his hand on Jeremie's shoulder. Jeremie looked over at Odd, with a single tear escaping from his left eye. Yumi embraced Ulrich in a hug, and the entire room became overwhelmed with sadness. "Odd… stay here with her. I'm going to go look at the computer, and see if this is because of the anti-virus." Odd gently took Aelita from Jeremie, and Jeremie dashed up the ladder into the laboratory.

"Come on princess," whispered Odd. "Wake up…" the cold, silent atmosphere was quickly interrupted by Jeremie's screams. Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich all looked at each other and gasped. Regretfully leaving Aelita behind, they all hurried up the ladder to see what happened to Jeremie. They reached Jeremie, who was standing in front of the computer, his mouth wide open and his face full of angst and fear.

"Jeremie!" all three yelled. They ran up to him, with Ulrich placing his hand on Jeremie's shoulder.

"What happened?" He asked. "Did you find out-" Ulrich took one glance at the computer, and stopped mid-sentence. Everyone fell silent, staring at the logo of XANA on the screen in front of them.


	4. Comatose

Jeremie sat on the cold, damp floor of the scanner room, holding Aelita in his arms. Her cold, tender cheek was pressed against his, with glistening tears flowing silently from his eyes. The small patter of his teardrops hitting the concrete floor echoed throughout the room.

"Aelita…" he sobbed. Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich all stood around Jeremie kneeling on the floor with Aelita's body lying limply across his arms. Nobody muttered a word. In fact, they were all afraid to speak, in fear of upsetting Jeremie even more. For a while, they stood in the darkness, staring at the ground. Eventually, Yumi kneeled down next to Jeremie and whispered to him.

"I think we should take her to the hospital, Jeremie…" Jeremie turned his head to Yumi. He didn't say anything, but he gave a slight nod that notified Yumi he was agreeing with her. Jeremie looked down at Aelita once more. She only looked as if she was sleeping peacefully. Jeremie brushed his fingertips gently across her forehead, repositioning her frail pieces of luscious pink hair out of her eyes. Her face was relaxed, and if she was dreaming, they were good dreams at least. In her extended slumber, there was no Scyphozoa to flee from. No men in black were chasing her, and there were no visions or nightmares. Staring at Aelita's beautiful complexion, Jeremie's face suddenly turned angry.

"XANA, you're about to wish I had never turned on that supercomputer."

Jeremie sat alone in the waiting room, his head buried in his palms. The fluorescent lighting above him was too bright for his tired eyes, used to the dimness of the factory. He couldn't think straight. He couldn't cry, he couldn't laugh, and he couldn't even talk. Every perfectly articulated word he formed in his head came out of his mouth as mindless babble. The doctor's words repeated in his head over and over again.

_She's in a serious coma here, Jeremie…  
In a coma…_

_ Comatose…_

Jeremie's fists clenched against his temples. In his mind, he was beating himself up. _How could I let this happen! _He thought. _This is my fault. I'm so impatient and stupid. If I hadn't have rushed through the anti-virus so quickly, I could've perfected it more, keeping XANA from hacking into it, and she would still be awake. Why Jeremie, why? You've really done it this time. _Jeremie grew tense, and began to sob more. Odd walked over to him and patted him on the back, trying to offer some comfort. Jeremie couldn't picture a life without Aelita next to him. How was he going to fix this mess?

_(flashback)_

Jeremie, Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich stood around Aelita's hospital bed. The room was white and blinding. Odd was curled up in the only chair in the room, with his knees folded up to his chest. Yumi and Ulrich sat on the floor next to each other, with Yumi resting her head on Ulrich's shoulder. Jeremie stood by Aelita's side, holding her hand. The sound of her heart monitor bounced off of the hospital's solid walls. Other than that, silence. Complete silence. What was there to say? A light tapping against the glass window of the door interrupted the coldness of the room. The doctor cracked open the door, asking for permission to come in. He was tall, about 6'2", and had both a fair amount of fat and muscle beneath his skin. His face was flushed; he looked as if he had dealt with one too many depressing cases today. A pair of oversized eyeglasses similar to Jeremie's hid the sorrow in his eyes as he entered the room and gazed upon Aelita's resting body.

"Mr. Belpois?" he asked. Jeremie slowly looked over, and nodded.

"That's me," Jeremie said.

"May I please speak with you outside of the room for a moment." The Doctor's voice was stern, and it was more of a demand than a question. Jeremie dragged his feet across the room and followed the Doctor out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"I'm Dr. James Hopper," he introduced. Jeremie's eyes widened slightly by hearing the name Hopper. Of course he wasn't of that family, but what a coincidence nonetheless. "I'm going to be Aelita's permanent medical doctor."

"I'm Jeremie…" he sluggishly responded.

"Aelita is in a very deep coma, Jeremie. She's at a sum of three on the Glasgow Coma Scale, the lowest you can get. She's making absolutely no movements, no sounds, and she won't open her eyes; not even in response to painful stimuli. We've run a large battery of tests, but we can't figure out what's wrong. Everything has come back clean, there's absolutely no brain damage or trauma… and you say she just collapsed randomly?" Jeremie nodded his head. Dr. Hopper appeared baffled. "Well, this is definitely one of the strangest cases I've had in a long time. We're going to monitor her extensively, but she's in a serious coma here Jeremie. She's comatose. We don't know when or… or if, she'll wake up." Jeremie cringed as the doctor brought up the "what if" scenario. He didn't want to imagine Aelita never waking up. He couldn't imagine it. He wouldn't.

"Doctor, she will wake up." Jeremie replied, very smugly.

"Listen son, I know-"

"I'm not your son. And she WILL wake up, Doctor. Excuse me." Jeremie turned around and helped himself back into Aelita's room. His friends looked up at him curiously, awaiting the news on their beloved pinkette.

"What did he say?" asked Ulrich. Jeremie let out a big sigh.

"She's in a coma. A deep one. The doctor doesn't even know if she's going to wake up. She will though, I know she will."

"Jeremie, what are we supposed to do if XANA launches an attack? Aelita's the only one that can deactivate the towers!" Odd jumped out of his chair, freakishly grabbing at his blonde locks.

"He's already launched an attack, Odd. That's why we're in this mess. Boy is he good; stripping us of the one thing that always made his attacks fail. With Aelita knocked out, he can do whatever he wants without us stopping him. That's how I know Aelita's not gone for good. XANA won't kill her off, he still needs her as much as I nee- I mean we need her. It's just temporary, to throw us off. In the meantime, I'm positive I can produce a program that will help us shut down towers without Aelita while I try and figure out how to bring Aelita back. I think what happened is that XANA infected the anti-virus I gave Aelita and ended up putting her into a coma. It can be reversed."

"Geez Jeremie, you're awfully confident all of a sudden. Just a minute ago you were balling your eyes out," Ulrich sternly responded.

"I have to be confident. Sitting around crying isn't going to bring Aelita back. Guys, do you mind? I'd like to be alone with her for a minute." The rest of the Lyoko warriors understood Jeremie's request, and walked out to the waiting room. Jeremie pulled the chair next to Aelita's bedside and sat in it, taking her cold little hand and kissing it. "Hi, Aelita." He whispered. "I don't know if you can hear me, but, I'm going to talk anyway… we miss you back here Aelita. It seems like just yesterday I brought you onto Earth, and now you're gone again. I know you won't be for long, though. I'll do everything I can to get you out of this coma, Aelita. I promise." Jeremie ran his fingers through her hair. He loved the feel of it against his tense fingertips. Jeremie wanted to cry more, but at this point he was all cried out for the night. "I'll visit you every day. I'll bring my laptop and work next to you. Seeing your wonderful self will be enough motivation to get me going. I'm never going to leave your side, Aelita." Jeremie leaned over and planted a small kiss on her forehead. He gazed into her shut eyes, even though she couldn't gaze back. Jeremie stood up and began to walk away. He reached out for the door knob, beginning to turn it, but then quickly stopped. Jeremie turned around and stared at Aelita, peacefully lying in her hospital bed underneath layers of warm sheets and blankets. He smiled at her, and then walked back over to her bedside. Jeremie leaned down next to her ear, and gently whispered.

"I love you, Aelita."

_(end flashback)_

Jeremie was alone in the waiting room. Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich left ages ago to get sleep, as per Jeremie's request. The hard work would start promptly tomorrow. As Jeremie stopped daydreaming, the lights in the waiting room began to dim, with some even shutting off. A frightening old nurse approached Jeremie.

"Time to go, honey." She sweetly said, which surprised Jeremie due to her appearance. She towered over him and he could see the details of her enlarged pores and nose hair as he glanced up at her. That was enough to make him want to leave. "Visiting hours are over, but you can come back tomorrow at 7 A.M." Jeremie was saddened at having to leave his beautiful Lyoko angel, but he agreed. On his way out, he stopped and glanced into Aelita's window, watching her sleep.

"I'll be back tomorrow, princess." He waved, knowing she wouldn't be able to see it or wave back. It didn't matter; giving was all Jeremie needed to do. He didn't need to receive.


	5. You're Nothing, Jeremie

Aelita tumbled face down out of the scanner. She screamed as her hard skull cracked against the pavement of the factory. The gang looked down in horror, rushing to her side.

"AELITA!" screamed Jeremie. "NO! NO, NO, NO! WHAT DID I DO WRONG?" Jeremie began to sob in his hands, with his friends staring at him.

"Way to go, Einstein."

"You blew it this time, Jeremie."

"What's wrong with you?"

"You're nothing Jeremie. Nothing. Nothing!" Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich towered around Jeremie holding Aelita's unconscious body, chanting over and over again. "Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing." Jeremie began to sob harder into Aelita's lifeless body.

"STOP IT!" he shouted. "It's not my fault!"

"Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. YOU'RE WORTHLESS, JEREMIE!" Suddenly, Jeremie was in the hospital room next to Aelita. He screamed more.

"AELITA!" he began to violently shake her. "WAKE UP AELITA! YOU'RE NOT DEAD! DON'T LET XANA TAKE CONTROL OF YOU LIKE THIS! WAKE UP AELITA!" He planted his face into the bed sheets and began to cry uncontrollably. The harsh words of his friends echoed throughout the room.

"Nothing, Jeremie. Nothing."

Jeremie woke up screaming. The birds were cheerfully chirping, perched outside of his window. It was a bright, beautiful day. Terrified, Jeremie ran down the hall and to Aelita's room, where he thankfully found her curled up in her bed. Jeremie ran to her bed and threw off her covers.

"AHHH!" Aelita yelled. "Jeremie? What are you doing?" Jeremie started to cry, but this time with laughter. He hugged Aelita so tight that he almost crushed her. "J..Jeremie…C..Can't…BREATHE!"

"Oh, Aelita!" he sighed. "I had the most horrible dream that my anti-virus failed and you were driven into a coma by XANA! But you're not in a coma, you're awake and well, and I'm so happy to see you."

"Jeremie," said Aelita.

"Yes, Aelita?" Jeremie looked into her big doe eyes and smiled.

"Wake up."

"Huh? But I'm not…" Suddenly, Aelita tumbled out of his arms and onto the floor. "Aelita!" he gasped. "NO!" Jeremie crawled over to her, shaking her shoulder slightly. "Aelita?" he screamed. Suddenly, Aelita's eyes darted open, piercing into Jeremie's soul.

"NOTHING!" she shouted.

Jeremie legitimately woke up this time. He sprang up in his bed, screaming his head off. It was still night time. Lighting flashed through his window, illuminating his entire room for brief seconds. Thunder crackled loudly, shaking the entire dorm building. Rain speedily scuttled down the frosted glass window. Jeremie panted, trying to catch his breath, and reached for the glasses on his nightstand. The alarm clock read 3:22 A.M. He looked at the clock and sighed.

Jeremie was sitting in Aelita's hospital room, minding his own business and playing around on his laptop. He was running a superscan for the second time in a row. Once again, nothing came up.

"I don't believe it!" he grunted. "No activated towers! How can this be? XANA can't get to the real world without activating a tower. If Aelita's coma is XANA's doing, then there HAS to be one SOMEWHERE! Unless… Unless the coma ISN'T XANA's fault. Maybe it's really just my fault… but wait; I saw his logo on the computer at the factory! That means it has to be… maybe he's just really good at hiding his towers all of a sudden." Jeremie started up another scan. "Third time's the charm…" he muttered under his breath. Suddenly, the door opened. A new doctor walked in. This one was not meaty like Dr. Hopper, instead he was shorter and skinnier. He did not wear glasses, and had dark brown hair with a receding hairline. Wrinkles explored all areas of his face, and his eyes appeared tired and dark. He was paler than the other doctor too, and his lab coat was sloppily buttoned. For some reason, Jeremie just realized that Dr. Hopper had not approached Jeremie while in a doctor's uniform. He was simply wearing a maroon sweater with Khakis. Jeremie quickly brushed it off, thinking it was due to quitting hours.

"Hello," said the mysterious new individual. "I'm Dr. Robert Adelphia. I'll be Aelita's permanent medical doctor." He reached out his hand to Jeremie's, offering up a handshake. Jeremie looked Dr. Adelphia up and down, raising one of his eyebrows.

"I thought Dr. Hopper was Aelita's doctor?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Dr. who?"

"Dr. Hopper! James Hopper, he was just here last night."

"Dr. James Hopper? I can assure you that there's nobody here by the name Dr. James Hopper. At least, not for as long as the thirty two years I've worked here." Jeremie appeared baffled.

"But, he came in here last night and explained to me Aelita's situation! She has a sum of three on the Glascow Coma Scale, no brain injury or trauma, he said it was the strangest case ever, and there's probably no chance of her waking up!" The doctor, in return, appeared just as baffled.

"Um, well, yes, all of that is true… that's strange… but I bet you're just traumatized young man. I understand you're very close to Ms. Stones here and I'm sure you just weren't thinking clearly. There's not a single employee here named James Hopper, and there never has been. Well, since you already seem to know what's going on, I'll just leave you be. I'll come back once you're calmer. Have a good day!" Dr. Adelphia waved and walked out, shutting the door behind him. Jeremie stared in bewilderment. He looked over at his computer, which had once again come up clean in the search for activated towers.

"What are you up to now, XANA?" Jeremie folded his arms. Suddenly, Odd was banging on the door.

"Hey Einstein are you in there?" he yelled. Odd opened the door and helped himself in.

"What do you want, Odd?"

"Hey Aelita's my friend too you know, you have to share! Didn't your mother ever teach you manners?" Odd winked. "Yumi and Ulrich are too busy with their study date, and I don't have anything else to do so I came by to check on her. How is she doing?"

"She's sleeping." Jeremie sarcastically replied.

"What's wrong Jer? You seem awfully cranky."

"Oh, well, besides the fact that the girl of my dreams is in a seemingly permanent coma with no hope of ever being revived, I can't find a single activated tower on Lyoko, regardless of the fact we all witnessed XANA's symbol flashing on the factory's interface, which only leads me to believe either XANA has a new trick up his sleeve far too complex for me to figure out without Aelita, or that I'm the cause of all of this with my pathetic failure of an anti-virus. Other than that though, nothing. No biggie." Odd walked over to Jeremie and rested his hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down, Jeremie. You're the smartest guy I've ever met, and whether or not you openly admit it we all know that you really love Aelita." At that accusation, Jeremie's cheeks turned beet red. "That alone is enough to give you the power to fix this, whether or not it's your fault. What's not going to help is standing around, watching her sleep and beating yourself up over the situation she's in. Not just her, but all of us as well. Right now we're counting on you and I know you can do it Jer, you just gotta believe in yourself, not torture yourself."

"Wow, Odd… that's probably the most intelligent thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth."

"Yeah well don't get used to it pal." Odd patted Jeremie's shoulder and Jeremie responded with a slight snicker. Suddenly, a pop-up appeared on Jeremie's computer and started blinking. Odd and Jeremie both turned around. "Hey what's that?" Odd pointed out.

"That's a good question…" Jeremie went over to check it out, but as soon as he clicked on the pop-up it disappeared. "What, that's weird… as soon as I interacted with it, it disappeared. I didn't get a long enough glance, but it looked like a chat message of some sorts."

"Maybe it's an advertisement for one of those babe hotlines! Those usually look like chat conversations."

"Very funny Odd. That's the last thing I need."

"Yeah well, I'm going to go out and get some coffee really quick. You want something Jeremie?"

"I'll just take a hot chocolate, thanks." Odd waved and stepped outside, leaving Jeremie alone with Aelita. Jeremie closed his laptop, placed it inside his book bag, and walked over to Aelita. Once again, he began stroking her face and playing with her hair. "Hi again, Aelita." He whispered to her. "I hope you're having sweet dreams in there. It's only been a day since you fell comatose, but it's already getting to me bad. I didn't sleep last night, kept waking up from horrible nightmares. Something weird is going on. It's like without you here; the world immediately starts falling apart. The man who came in last night and explained to me what happened said he was your doctor, but today a different guy came in and said he was your doctor and that the man from the night before doesn't exist. It sounds like another one of XANA's traps, but another weird thing is that there are no activated towers. I wish you were here. I could use your help. This is a job for two geniuses." Jeremie smiled down at Aelita. "You're very pretty, you know that? Of course you do…" Jeremie began blushing heavily. "Ugh I'm nervous around girls that can't even hear me. I'm pathetic." Odd interrupted their one-on-one time and stepped into the room with a cup of coffee.

"I'm back!" he sung.

"Hey, where's my hot chocolate?" asked Jeremie.

"Oh, uh, well the machines really slow, so I drank it while I was waiting for my coffee to fill up…sorry!" Odd grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. Jeremie groaned.

"Oh well, I'm not really thirsty or hungry anyway." Jeremie looked back over at Aelita, and then turned around. With his back turned towards her, he heard a soft whisper.

"Jeremie?"

"Huh?" Jeremie quickly turned around, to see Aelita opening her eyes. He became overwhelmed with happiness, and ran to her bedside. "AELITA!" he shouted with glee. "YOU'RE AWAKE!"

"Oh, Jeremie…" she said, burying her face into Jeremie's chest as he tightly wrapped his arms around her.

"I was so worried Aelita," Jeremie said. "You've been in a coma for two days now; the doctors said you'd never wake up."

"I'd never wake up? But Jeremie, you're the one that needs to wake up." Jeremie pushed Aelita away from him.

"What? No! I'm not aslee-" Jeremie was jolted awake by Odd shaking him.

"Wake up Einstein!" he shouted. "I got your hot chocolate!" Jeremie sighed and began to sulk. He looked over at Aelita's bed to see her still locked in her deep slumber.

"Not another dream…" he mumbled.

"What was that?" Odd asked.

"Nothing, Odd. I didn't say anything."

Jeremie was up late in his dorm one night as usual, coding a program that would hopefully allow Jeremie to deactivate towers himself. Suddenly, he received another pop-up, similar to the one from two days prior in the hospital. Jeremie was right, it was a chat program; a chat program Jeremie didn't even have installed. So then how was it on his computer? There was no name or picture for the person trying to contact him. Jeremie peered closer at his computer screen and read the text out loud.

"S'Ti Em, Hpopre ZrnaF. Etl eM LePh yM GhauDtre…" Jeremie stared at the chat box. "What in the world…" he murmured. "Must be spam." Jeremie quickly brushed the strange message aside and deleted it, continuing to his work. The same message popped up again. And again, and again, and again. No matter how many times Jeremie closed out the chat box, it would instantly re-appear. "Okay," he muttered. "Either I'm going crazy, my beloved computer has a virus, or someone important is trying to contact me with some sort of crazy language. I vote the latter. Or… maybe it's XANA trying to distract me from my work. Only one way to find out." Jeremie imported the text into his super online translator, attempting to decipher the message. After hours of scanning every possible language in existence, absolutely nothing came up. Jeremie slammed his fists into his keyboard. "What kind of crap is this! Am I getting signals from an alien! Ridiculous. It's a trap. I'm done for the night." Jeremie walked over to his bed and collapsed. Just five minutes later, his alarm for school went off. He whined, and slapped his clock.

After lunch, Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich were all walking through one of the academy's corridors. It wasn't ideal to hang outside. The bright, yellow sun was hiding behind a thick layer of grey clouds. The past three days had contained gloomy and stormy weather, with today being the only day it wasn't actually raining. There were no crickets chirping, no birds tweeting. The hallway was dim and silent, minus the occasional chatter of other students hanging around.

"Where is Jeremie?" Yumi pondered, walking hand-in-hand with Ulrich.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him all day. I didn't see him yesterday either, it's not like Jeremie to skip school…" Ulrich replied.

"Yeah, I know right? Maybe gym, but not science or math!" Odd giggled.

"Odd, can you ever be serious?"

"Sure I can. Hey speaking of serious what's going on with you and Yumi huh?" Odd intruded, with his eyes staring at Ulrich and Yumi's interlocked hands. They quickly broke the entwinement.

"Nothing," Yumi sternly responded. Odd raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

"Anyways," Odd continued. "I'm sure Jeremie has been spending the past two days at the hospital. He's practically glued there."

"That's not healthy." Ulrich was concerned. "We need to get him out of that room, the more he sits there around Aelita the more depressed he'll get." Odd and Yumi nodded in agreement, and they headed off to the hospital.

Back in Jeremie's dorm, his computer booted up and began to drone at the activation of a tower. With that all too familiar sound, Jeremie jumped out of bed and looked at his computer.

"Oh, no!" he panicked. "I don't know how to deactivate it!" Jeremie pulled out his cell phone and frantically dialed the numbers of his friends.

Odd and Ulrich were on their way to the hospital. Yumi had to go home after school because her parents were once again trying to crack down on the fact she is constantly out with her trouble-making friends, never spending enough time with the family. Thunder softly rumbled in the sky, and with each passing minute the clouds began to multiply in darkness. All of a sudden, Odd and Ulrich's phones cried in unison.

"Hello?" Ulrich picked up his cell phone. "WHAT?" his eyes broadened. Odd looked upon him confusedly. "So you're not at the hospital? We're all the way over here because that's where we thought you were! Okay, we're on our way Jeremie. We'll hurry." Ulrich swiftly shoved his phone into his pocket and gaped at Odd with fearful eyes. He didn't have to speak; Odd already knew what was going on. They hastily headed to the factory.

Jeremie, sitting in the factory, became timid and fidgety. He bounced his legs while sitting in the chair, so overwhelmed with frustration, cluelessness and fear that he couldn't sit still. Ulrich and Odd came climbing down the ladder, dropping into the room and running to Jeremie's side.

"There you are!" Jeremie bellowed. "What took you so long?"

"I told you, we were at the hospital." Ulrich confirmed.

"Well, it's not like it matters anyway!" Jeremie began to freak out and pull at his hair. "I don't even know how we're going to deactivate the tower, and I also don't know what XANA is trying to do!" Suddenly, an extraordinarily loud and frightening clash of thunder surrounded the factory, causing lights to flicker. The showering of rain drops running against the factory's roof echoed throughout the room. Ulrich looked around, and then look at Jeremie.

"I think I might have a clue…" Ulrich said.

"The storm?" Odd cocked his head. "What's he going to do with the storm?"

"He could probably drive the lightning into something we don't want getting hit by lightning, that's how it usually works with him." Abruptly, Jeremie calmly looked over at Odd and Ulrich.

"I know what to do," he said. Odd and Ulrich looked at each other in astonishment.

Jeremie and Odd stepped into the scanners.

"Are you ready Ulrich?" From upstairs, Ulrich perplexedly gazed upon the supercomputer's interface. He spoke through the microphone headset. "Uh, Yeah Jeremie, as ready as I'm gonna be…"

"Okay. Go Ulrich!" Ulrich, looking at the manual Jeremie had set up for him, started tapping around and pushing buttons.

"Uhh.. Transfer, Jeremie! Transfer, Odd! Scanner Jeremie! Scanner Odd! Uhm… uh… Virtualization!" Ulrich pressed the final button and prayed with every fiber of his being that it was the right one. As soon as the two successfully dropped onto the desert path of Lyoko, Ulrich heard immense laughter through the headset he was wearing. It was coming from Odd.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Odd cackled, rolling around on the ground. "Hey Jeremie, have you ever played Legend of Zelda? Hahahaha!" Jeremie's Lyoko attire, as Ulrich and Odd had previously described tactfully, was ridiculous. His ears had transformed into elf ears like Aelita's, and a bow and arrow was attached to his back. A pair of forest-green tights clung to his legs, with a green tunic hanging over his scrawny body. Jeremie did not have shoes on his feet, but instead his tights wrapped around them. To top off the outfit, a little green elf hat sat on his head, with a little gold bell hanging from the tip.

"Shut your trap, Odd. Do you want to stop XANA, or do you want to waste time laughing at me?"

"Oh that's a tough decision Jeremie!" Odd shouted, wiping tears from his eyes from his intense fit of laughter.

"Okay Jeremie," Ulrich stated. "Exactly what is your plan?"

"Well Ulrich, I can activate towers from the computer, so I'm hoping maybe I can deactivate them too. What I couldn't figure out is how to deactivate them externally, but I'm positive I can from inside Lyoko."

"Okay, Um… head north! I can see the tower on the screen!"

"Aye aye, Captain!" Odd saluted. Jeremie and Odd dashed off in the direction of the tower. Eventually, they reached it. Glowing bright red, as expected.

"Hey look!" Odd pointed east. "It's our friends the kankrelots! They want to introduce themselves to you, Jeremie!

"Well they can save the welcoming committee for later; I'm not really in a socialization mood you know? Take care of them, I'm running straight to the tower instead of toddling around like our dear friend Aelita tends to do."

"Jeremie, the storm is getting rough out here! It looks like XANA is trying to overcharge the power plant with the lightning bolts!" Ulrich screamed.

"Don't worry Ulrich, I'm in the tower!" Jeremie confidently responded. He stepped into the middle of the platform and looked around. "Well, now what…? AHH!" A strong current lifted Jeremie up into the air, and sent him straight into the bottom of the upper platform. "OUCH!" he yelped. "Now I know why Aelita always does those seemingly useless backflips…" Jeremie climbed onto the platform and tapped the interface. Nothing happened. "Uh oh…"

"What do you mean, UH OH?" responded Ulrich. "Waste another five minutes, and the entire city is going to be blown to smithereens!"

"Don't worry Ulrich, I got this." Jeremie tapped the interface again, and this time, the same message that had been haunting Jeremie's computer popped up. "Oh, jeez…" he muttered. Then suddenly, all of the glowing text that surrounded the walls of the tower began to disintegrate and drop down. Code: Lyoko appeared on the screen, and Jeremie scratched his head in admiration. "Um…tower…deactivated?" he questioned.

"Thank God." Ulrich sighed.

"Alright," said Jeremie. "I guess now we know that my code for deactivating a tower is a bunch of gibberish."


	6. It's Me

Jeremie walked down the hallway of the hospital. The atmosphere was ominous, and the air smelled of an old, mold filled basement. The tile was cold, the lighting was dim. Each foot step he took echoed throughout the hospital. Jeremie jumped; seeing his shadow in his peripheral vision had startled him. There were no people around. No nurses, no doctors, no lost patients. Where was everyone? The fluorescent lighting above flickered relentlessly. Jeremie found the room number that contained his precious angel, room 9262. The handle was rusty. He hesitantly reached out to it; the corroded metal scraped against his sensitive palms. The door slowly creaked open, and Jeremie approached Aelita's peaceful body. He gently ran his fingertips down her rosy red cheeks. They were soft, delicate, and warm to the touch. Jeremie smiled down at her, the only facial expression he could possibly make in her presence.

"I miss you, Aelita. Won't you please wake up?" His whisper ricocheted throughout the frigid, empty room. To Jeremie's utter surprise, Aelita began to slowly open her eyes, and his eyes widened in delight. "Aelita," he whispered, not wanting to startle her too much or attract attention. "You're finally awake…" She gazed up at him, confused.

"Jeremie…" she said, struggling with her words. Jeremie pressed his index finger against her tender lips and shushed her. His face beamed with happiness at finally seeing her awake again.

"Don't try and talk," he comforted her. "Just relax. You've been in a coma for a week, Aelita."

"Jeremie," She coldly pronounced.

"Yes, Aelita…?" replied Jeremie, perplexed by her sudden harshness of tone. Aelita glared at Jeremie, her eyebrows pressing together and displaying a look of frustration.

"S'Ti Em, Hpopre ZrnaF. Etl eM LePh yM GhauDtre," she spoke. Jeremie stepped back.

"What?" he cried.

"S'Ti Em, Hpopre ZrnaF. Etl eM LePh yM GhauDtre." Jeremie could not understand a single word coming out of her mouth, but she continued to chant repeatedly. "Etl eM LePh yM GhauDtre. Etl eM LePh yM GhauDtre."

"Aelita, are you crazy! What's gotten into you?" Aelita sprang up in her bed, and grabbed Jeremie's shirt collar, yanking him down closer to her.

"Etl eM LePh yM GhauDtre."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jeremie escalated up in his bed, sweating and panting profusely. Another nightmare. Jeremie felt around his bed and nightstand, searching for his glasses. A loud knocking upon his door shattered the silent, midnight air.

"Jeremie, are you in there?" It was Ulrich. "I heard you screaming." Jeremie reluctantly crawled out of the warm comfort of his bed. Still not wearing his glasses, he took caution with each step until he was able to use his hands to guide him to the door's handle. Jeremie opened the door, where a blurred combination of three different Ulrichs floated in front of his eyes. He squinted, attempting to see more clearly. "Where are your glasses?" Ulrich queried, noticing Jeremie's struggle.

"That's a good question," Jeremie responded, rubbing his weary eyes.

"I just came to check on you. This is the third night in a row you've woken up screaming. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Ulrich, thanks. I'm going to go back to bed now, okay?"

"Okay. See you in the morning." Jeremie gently closed his door, as to not make any sound that would awaken the others. He slothfully made his way back to his cozy, inviting bed and allowed himself to fall face first into the jungle of sheets and comforters. Before drifting off to sleep, the mysterious phrase repeated in his head.

"_S'Ti Em, Hpopre ZrnaF…. Etl eM LePh yM GhauDtre…." _

Jeremie clenched his fist, slamming it down against the hardwood bedframe.

"But WHAT does it MEAN?" he shouted.

Later in the afternoon, Odd and Ulrich were sitting at their usual spot during lunch. Yumi was absent; she stayed home sick with a fever.

"Oh boy! Mashed potatoes and meatballs today!" Odd joyfully cried out. Ulrich just snickered, digging his fork into his spaghetti and twirling it around. Jeremie approached the table, dragging his feet.

"What's the matter, Einstein?" asked Ulrich. "Did you get any more sleep last night?"

"Yeah, a little, thanks." Jeremie slowly eased himself down onto the cafeteria bench, carefully placing his lunch tray in front of him. The hard plastic tray contained a bright, green, Granny Smith apple, a can of Coca Cola, a generous blob of mashed potatoes soaked in gravy, and three tender meatballs intertwined with a thick meaty sauce and angel-haired spaghetti noodles. Although Jeremie's stomach grumbled with hunger, he simply stared blankly at the concoction of edibles on his plate, pushing it away from him.

"Jeremie, you're not going to eat that?" Odd probed.

"I'm… not really hungry."

"Can I have it?" Odd replied, with his signature grin.

"Sure." Jeremie pushed his tray over to Odd, to which Odd responded by happily shouting with glee and immediately shoveling the food into his oversized mouth. Jeremie tuned out the laughter of his friends, his cheek sinking into his hand as he rested his elbow against the table. He closed his eyes, letting his mind wander away from reality.

_"Aelita!" _Jeremie cried out, chasing down the street after her. He stopped to catch his breath, bent over with his hands on his knees, panting. "_Aelita, why did you run off? What are you looking at?"_

"_Jeremie…" _Aelita was facing the window of an ice cream shop with her hands and nose pressed against the glass, peering inside inquisitively. _"What's in there?" _Jeremie walked up to Aelita and placed his hand against her back, rubbing it slightly. Jeremie smiled at Aelita's naiveté, her innocence is what kept Jeremie going. There was still so much to teach her, and it felt like there was so little time.

_"Come on," _Jeremie said, taking hold of Aelita's small, dainty hand. He enthusiastically led her inside the ice cream shop. The shop was crowded with people, for the temperature outside was blazing. The air inside was freezing and nipped at Aelita's nose, but she enjoyed the feeling of being chilly compared to the immense heat and humidity of the outside atmosphere. The ice cream parlor did not have much of a smell; if anything, it simply smelled like cold. Aelita walked up to the display cases that contained various amounts of brightly colored ice creams. She peered inside, looking at the strange chilled mixture that she had never seen before. Aelita gazed in wonderment as she watched a man lift up the glass lid, and furiously dig a metal ice cream soup into one of the containers of a strange, brightly green colored ice cream that appeared to have chunks in it. The man then placed the scoop upon a cake cone, firmly pressing it into the cone's nooks and crannies. Aelita's eyes followed the ice cream cone from the man's hand, over the counter, and to the customer's hand. She looked at Jeremie, her eyes had become glazed over with delight and bewilderment. Jeremie beamed at her, he already knew what she wanted. _"It's called ice cream, Aelita."_

_ "Ice cream? It doesn't look like there's ice in it."_

_ "Well, it's not solid ice, but it's made of frozen dairy products, like cream and milk. What flavor would you like?" _Aelita smiled like a child in a candy store, so many bright colors and delicious flavors, the endless possibilities! How could she possibly choose? Then she remembered the bright, lime green ice cream she had witnessed earlier. Aelita ran over to the display that contained her mystery ice cream, and pointed to it.

_"That one!" _she squealed.

_ "Anything for you, Aelita." _Aelita's cheeks flushed bright pink, and she shyly smiled at Jeremie. _"I'll take a cone of Pistachio, please." _The teller nodded in agreement, and went about his routine of scooping ice cream into a cone and firmly shoving it down. He handed the cone to Jeremie, and Jeremie handed him the payment. Aelita was smiling so greatly, she was so excited to try this new discovery called ice cream. As Jeremie handed over the ice cream cone to her, the first thing she did was take a big bite into it.

"_Ow!" _she screamed. Her face froze into a tense little scrunch, with her eyes squeezed tightly shut as she tried to let the stabbing pain of the cold pass over.

"_It's a little too cold to bite into," _Jeremie noted. _"You're supposed to lick it, like this." _Aelita held her ice cream cone tightly in her hand, and Jeremie placed his hand over Aelita's holding the cone with her. He closed his eyes and took a big lick of the pistachio-filled treat, and then smiled at Aelita. Aelita smiled back, and then took her turn at licking the ice cream.

"_Oh!" _she exclaimed in delight. _"It's delicious!" _

_ "It's called pistachio."_

_ "Pistachio… Pistachio is my favorite ice cream!" _The two giggled happily together, and walked out of the ice cream parlor hand in hand as Aelita enjoyed her tasty luxury. _"It's so sweet," _she exclaimed.

"_Not as sweet as you," _Jeremie replied, as if almost out of instinct. He immediately blushed, wondering if his statement was appropriate, but the kiss on the cheek he soon received after told him that it most likely was.

"Hey, Einstein!" Odd bellowed. Jeremie quickly snapped out of his daydream, reminiscing about Aelita trying her first ice cream cone. "What's going on? You're very down today…"

"Oh, nothing." Jeremie calmly replied. "Um, I'm not feeling well actually. I'm going to go to the infirmary." With that, Jeremie quickly stood up and walked away. Ulrich and Odd shot each other a very confused look.

"Maybe he caught the same thing Yumi has?" Odd suggested. Ulrich shrugged.

Jeremie was, in fact, not going to the infirmary. Jeremie was going straight to his dorm to figure out the mystery behind this situation. He ran up the stairs of the dormitory building, and hurried down the hall until he approached the door that contained his sleeping quarters. Peeking around to make sure nobody was walking down the hall to catch him, especially Jim; he snuck inside his door and locked it behind him. Jeremie cracked his knuckles and walked straight to his computer. Jeremie took out a sheet of paper and wrote down the phrase that had been haunting him since the day after Aelita fell into a coma.

"Maybe it's not a different language…" Jeremie pondered out loud. "Of course! How could I have been so blind? It's clearly in English, it's just jumbled up!" Jeremie began to scribble variations of the sentences. He arranged the words and letters in every possible way he could think up. Within the blink of an eye, the sun was setting and there was more knocking on his door.

"Are you in there, Jeremie? You disappeared after lunch! We're worried about you!" It was Ulrich, again. Wow, he never went away.

"I'm here, Ulrich. I just… Nurse Yolanda sent me back to my room to get rest after I went to the infirmary." Lies. Total lies. But if Jeremie told Ulrich the truth, he would just get angry at Jeremie for obsessing so much, as usual.

"Oh, well, are you feeling better now? Dinner is going to be served in about half an hour, you know."

"I'm… still not very hungry, Ulrich."

"You can't go all day without eating Jeremie. We don't need you ending up like Aelita." Jeremie cringed. How could he toss her name around like that so easily, acting like the fact she was practically on her death bed was nothing? "If we don't see you in the cafeteria at seven, we're coming and dragging you there, got it?" Ulrich walked away after that, not even leaving Jeremie enough time to respond. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Dinner, schminner." He muttered. Jeremie stared at the paper in front of him. Every sentence was different, even if only in variation by one letter, but for some reason, Jeremie just couldn't crack the code. "Oh, my, GOD!" he screamed, taking the paper and ripping it to shreds. He kicked his desk's leg in frustration, and quickly winced in pain as he grabbed his one injured foot, and hopped around on the other. Jeremie limped over to his bed and fell backwards. "What could it possibly mean?" he wondered. "I don't even know how to pronounce it…" Jeremie relaxed, and let his eyes fall shut. "S'Ti Em, Hpopre ZrnaF. Etl eM LePh yM GhauDtre," he mumbled. "…It's me... the first part definitely has to say 'it's me' …. It's who?...backwards!" Jeremie shot up. "The sentence is backwards, with a few letters misplaced to throw me off!" he ran to his desk and grabbed another sheet of paper, copying the phrase down; only backwards, switching around letters as necessary. Jeremie raised the paper up to his eyes and looked upon it in disbelief and bewilderment.

"It's me, Franz Hopper. Let me help my daughter."


	7. Aelita's Dream

"_You mustn't forget me, Aelita, ever. Never forget!"_

Forget what? Who said that? I look around Lyoko. How did I get here? I don't remember being virtualized.

"Yumi?" I cry out. "Ulrich? Odd? Jeremie?" No answer.

Why am I here?

I look around, confusedly. I feel frightened, even though this is my home. Suddenly, I am hit with a massive migraine. I fall to my knees, holding my head in agony. I'm having visions again.

"_Aelita!" _I hear a male's voice cry out.

"_Daddy?" _My younger self cries in return. I look around. _"Where are you?"_

"_Here I am, Aelita!" _But where? I don't see him, but it sounds like his voice is coming out of this glowing white orb besides me. What is this? Where am I? Why do I look like an elf? I'm confused and scared.

"_Daddy?"_

"_I can't materialize myself into human form yet as you can, Aelita. I still have work to do. Lyoko needs to develop more." _Lyoko? What is Lyoko? I don't understand. Small, bug like creatures scuttle towards me. They have an oddly shaped eye on their foreheads.

"_Daddy, there are some strange looking creatures over there…"_

"_RUN, Aelita!"_

I obey my father's orders, running into the tower.

"_Daddy…" _I call out, but he does not respond. _"Daddy!" _I cry again, but still, he does not answer. I sit alone in the tower, curling into a ball. I'm alone. After a while, I get bored. I want to explore this strange place more. How does this place even exist? Is this what daddy did in his free time? I always thought he had been acting strange and distant lately. Ever since my mother disappeared, he hasn't been the same. I step out of the tower. To my horror, I see a herd of giant, scary looking wasps shooting lasers at my father's virtual self. _"Daddy!" _I yelp.

"_No, Aelita!" _he frantically shouts. _"Get back to the tower! To safety!"_

"_But, Daddy!"_

"_It's all over Aelita. I have to shut down the super computer. XANA has become too powerful."_

"_But, does that mean we'll die?"_

"_You mustn't forget me, Aelita, ever. Never forget!"_

I awake on the floor of the scanner room, curled into the fetal position, my head still aching. I am disoriented. Now how did I get here? Wasn't I just on Lyoko? I'm cold. My father's voice echoes in my head.

"_You mustn't forget me, Aelita."_

Too bad I did. Thanks again, XANA.

I wish I could remember more of my past. I feel so scared and alone, like I'm worth nothing on this Earth. I keep having such strange visions that I can only assume are related to myself, but I can't be sure. My face feels wet. I brush my fingertips against it, feeling water flowing from my eyes. Jeremie told me this is called crying, and people do it when they are sad. Sometimes happy, too. I definitely don't feel happy right now.

"Aelita!" a familiar voice calls out.

"Daddy?" I respond, stupidly. Of course it's not him.

"No, Aelita… it's me…" Jeremie approaches me. I smile. He sees my tears, and appears concerned. "What's wrong, Aelita?" He looks down at me, and reaches out his hand, offering to help me up. I accept.

"I'm so happy to see you, Jeremie." I kiss him on the cheek, feeling his cheeks flush and grow warm.

"I wish I could hear your voice, Aelita." What? I just told him I was happy to see him.

"Jeremie, I'm talking to you right now…"

"I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm going to talk anyway." What the hell is he talking about?

"Jeremie, what are you…"

"I miss you, Aelita."

"Jeremie, what the hell has gotten into you?" I become frustrated. It's like he doesn't even know I exist all of a sudden. Great, just what I needed.

"Wake up. Please, Aelita. Please wake up."

"I'M STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!"

"Wake up…"

Now I'm at the Hermitage. Did I develop teleportation skills? I grab ahold of the dusty railing, taking my time in climbing up the stairs. I enter what would seem to be my old bedroom, the wallpaper peeling at the edges, the window frame falling apart, the sheets on the bed torn. I walk to the fireplace where Mr. Puck was hiding behind this large photo frame of a tree. I close my eyes, letting my fingers explore the roughened texture of the painting, the cold, golden trim of the frame.

"_Do you remember where Mr. Puck is?"_

My eyes jolt open. Huh? Who said that? Am I hearing things now? I have problems.

"Aelita."

I turn around. There he is; my father. I am overwhelmed with an intense feeling in my stomach of which I cannot even find words to describe.

"D…daddy…" I stutter. He nods at me, and extends his hand. I happily grab ahold of it.

"I want to help you, Aelita."

"Help me? With what?" Is everyone I know going crazy?

"Aelita, you must be strong. You must wake up!" Oh, my God. I AM awake. Hello! I'm standing right in front of you! What is with the whole 'wake up' get up?

I'm awake, right? Or is everything just part of one big dream…

Am I awake? I don't know.

Nothing seems real…

Why can't I wake up?

I'm trapped.


	8. Influenza

**(WARNING FOR THOSE WITH WEAK STOMACHS: This chapter contains graphic descriptions of vomiting.)**

"So…" Odd started, "You're telling me that Franz Hopper, the guy that we think is Aelita's father, contacted you with a bunch of gibberish?"

"Yep," Jeremie smugly responded. Odd and Ulrich sat on Jeremie's bed dumbfounded, staring at him.

"And he said that he wants to help save Aelita…" Ulrich took a turn in speaking.

"Yep."

"And… exactly how is he going to do that?"

"Um, well, that I'm not quite sure of yet…" Jeremie scratched his head. "But, I'm sure I can find out." Odd walked over to Jeremie's desk and picked up the piece of paper that contained Jeremie's various attempts at deciphering the fragmented sentence.

"Jeremie," he said. "How long did it take you to figure out what this says?"

"Sheesh, like three days at least…"

"I could've done this in three minutes tops!" Jeremie sighed, and looked down.

"Yeah… It's just... It's been really hard for me to concentrate lately… the only thing on my mind anymore is Aelita…" Ulrich and Odd walked over to Jeremie, each placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Jer. I think you need to get out," Ulrich suggested. Jeremie simply looked up at him and shrugged.

"I guess."

"Well, anyways," Ulrich removed his hand and walked over to the door. "I'm off; I promised Yumi I would stop by and visit her. She's feeling pretty bad."

"Hey, let's go with you!" Odd exclaimed. Ulrich responded with a glare. "It'd be a chance for Jeremie to get some fresh air, and besides, I wanna check up on Yumi too."

"Um, well… I uh… was hoping to go alone…"

"Nonsense! Come on Einstein, let's go!" Odd yanked on Jeremie's arm, tugging him out the door. Ulrich rolled his eyes and followed behind them.

Knock, knock.

"YUMI!" Hiroki cried out, running up the stairs to Yumi's bedroom. "Your BOYFRIEND is here!" Yumi rolled over in her bed and groaned. Her hair was pulled back into a sloppy bun, with frail pieces of her fine black hair lying against her pale complexion. Her nose appeared rough and was tinted red, with several used tissues lying around her bed sheets and her wooden floor.

"Beat it, Hiroki!" she snapped. Hiroki sniggered and ran downstairs. Shortly after, Jeremie, Odd and Ulrich invited themselves upstairs, standing in her open door frame. Yumi rolled back over and smiled. "Hey, Ulrich…" and then her eyes widened; she appeared shocked that Odd and Jeremie had followed. "Oh…Hey Jeremie…and Odd…" she grated. Her usual, sultry voice had become hoarse and nasally. Ulrich walked over to her and placed the back of his hand against her forehead.

"Wow," he noted. "You're really hot, Yumi."

"Aw, really? Even when I'm sick?" Yumi winked, knowing that isn't what Ulrich really meant. Ulrich stepped black and blushed heavily.

"Welp, even though she's sick, she still sounds like Yumi to me!" Odd playfully shouted. "So how are you feeling?"

"Horrible," she moaned. "I have the flu."

"Really? It's not quite flu season yet…" Jeremie pointed out.

"Yeah, I know... Lucky me." Suddenly, Yumi's eyes broadened.

"Yumi, are you okay?" the others asked.

"Oh God…" she grumbled, frantically covering her mouth with both hands. Yumi threw off her covers and dashed into her bathroom, slamming the door behind her. The gruesome sounds that followed made the others sick to their stomachs.

"Sheesh," Odd cringed. "It's almost as bad as when Aelita had that stomach virus…" The mere mention of Aelita's name made Jeremie shudder. Each day without her by his side grew more painful and difficult. Jeremie leaned against Yumi's stony, plain wall, letting his hands sink into his pockets. He watched Ulrich try to comfort Yumi from the opposite side of the bathroom door, while Odd played around with the giant Totoro plush in the corner of her room. The way Ulrich consoled Yumi only pained Jeremie more, reminding him of when he was in the same position with Aelita.

"_Aelita, I can't believe all of this data I'm retrieving! It's so amazing." _Jeremie sat cross-legged in his computer chair, tapping away on his keyboard. Aelita had offered to stay up late with him as he searched around for the key to her anti-virus. She enjoyed computer programming too, and the data that he shared excited her just as much as it did him. It was one of their simple ways of bonding. Others poked fun at it, and would have considered them boring; but for Aelita, quality time like this was enough to please her. For the past hour though, she hadn't been contributing much, and had sat quietly on his bed, keeping to herself. Jeremie seemed too enthralled with his computer screen to notice that she had grown quiet and stopped talking all together. _"Aelita," _he said. _"Come look at this!" _

"_Jeremie…" _Aelita weakly called. She sat on the edge of his bed panting and leaning forward, with her arms wrapped around her stomach.

"_Yes, Aelita?" _Jeremie spun around in his chair, finally taking note of Aelita. His face flushed with worry after noticing the condition she was in. _"Woah, Aelita…" _He stepped out of his chair and walked over to his bed, sitting down next to her. Aelita had grown extremely pale. The grip around her abdomen tightened and she moaned. Sweat travelled down her cheeks, forehead, and neck, and she was breathing rapidly. Jeremie placed his hand on Aelita's back, scooting closer to her. _"Aelita, are you okay?"_

"_I… don't… my… stomach…" _She briefly looked over at Jeremie, completely petrified. Aelita cried out again, holding her stomach and looking down.

"_Uh oh," _Jeremie took one look at her and knew what was coming.

"_Jeremie…" _she whimpered, but before she could finish her sentence, she hurled forward and vomited all over his bedroom floor, with some of it trailing along his bed frame as well.

"_Oh, Aelita!" _he cried out, immediately grabbing the trash can that was located underneath his computer desk. He helped Aelita down to her knees and placed the trash can below her. Between spouts of vomiting, she managed to mutter a few words.

"_Jeremie…" _Aelita panted, spitting into the trash can. _"What's happening to me!" _Jeremie crawled to her side, sweetly shushing her and cooing in her ear. He rubbed her back as she continued to spew into the trash can, letting his fingertips trail up and down her spine. Cold sweat soaked Aelita's delicate pink locks, and Jeremie attempted to brush the lose pieces out of her face to avoid getting them soaked with bile. Aelita coughed and gagged, with tears streaming down her face. Having never experienced such a thing in her entire life, nor knowing a single thing about it, she was completely terrified.

"_It's okay, Aelita," _Jeremie whispered in her ear, continuing to rub her back. _"Shhh, it's okay…" _After a few minutes of non-stop ejecting, Aelita finally relaxed, spitting up the last bits left in her mouth. _"Are you done?" _Aelita looked over at him, unable to speak, but nodded at Jeremie with her tear-filled eyes. Jeremie kissed her on the forehead and stood up. _"Stay right here, okay? I'll be right back." _Jeremie walked out the door, heading to the communal bathrooms to grab a cool, wet rag for Aelita.

As soon as he was out of her sight, she curled against Jeremie's bed, sobbing uncontrollably. Forgetting that she had just vomited all over his bed, she ended up getting her remnantsof indigestion all over her back. As a result, Aelita became freaked out, and began to wail. Jeremie didn't take long, within a couple of minutes he was back in his room, closing the door behind him. Spotting his precious angel curled up on his floor crying, he immediately rushed to her side.

"_Aelita!" _he yelled, _"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"_

"_I'm so sorry! It's everywhere, Jeremie! It's disgusting! I'm disgusting! What's wrong with me?" _Jeremie struggled to make out her words that had been masked by her weeping.

"_Oh, Aelita, it's okay… Shhh," _he tenderly whispered, taking the wet rag and wiping away the miniscule chunks of vomit that sat in the corners of her mouth. _"Aelita, what you just did is called throwing up. It happens to everyone, don't worry. You're okay, Aelita. There's nothing be sorry for. It happens when your body doesn't like what you put inside of it, so this is its way of expelling the potentially harmful things. Vomiting is a good thing, Aelita." _Jeremie looked into her eyes, wiping away the tears that flowed onto her cheeks. Aelita took a deep breath, beginning to calm down.

"_It doesn't feel like a good thing…" _Aelita sniffled. Jeremie smiled at her, and helped her up.

"_Come on; let's get you cleaned up…" _Aelita looked at the sleeves of her cardigan, which had become soaked. Jeremie turned her around and observed the vomit that had rubbed onto her back due to her leaning against his bed. _"Aww, Aelita… You got it all over you…" _She blushed, feeling helpless and embarrassed. Jeremie grabbed the collar of Aelita's maroon cardigan, and slowly began to pull it down around her elbows.

"_Jeremie… what are you…" _

"_Well… you can't exactly wear this anymore…" _Jeremie blushed, worrying he had offended her. _"I mean, do you mind? I was just trying to help, but I understand if…"_

"_No, I don't mind," _Aelita shyly reassured, cutting Jeremie off. Jeremie smiled at her. Aelita slipped her arms out of her cardigan, and handed it to Jeremie. He laid the cardigan down on the floor. Aelita turned around and looked Jeremie in the eyes, her face flushed with heat and bright red. They smiled at each other as Jeremie slipped off the thin straps of Aelita's golden tank top, gently pulling it up and over her head. Jeremie's face was redder than a beet.

_Wow… _Jeremie thought. He was at a loss for words, considering the girl of his dreams was standing topless in front of him. _Okay, be cool Jeremie, and whatever you do, don't look down. Don't look down… Don't look… Oh God, I'm looking down! Jeremie, have you no self-control!_

"_Um, Jeremie…" _Jeremie snapped out of it.

"_Huh? What?"_ _Uh oh, she caught me looking down._

"_I'm kind of cold… what am I supposed to wear?"_

"_Oh, right. He he." _Jeremie walked over to his closet and pulled out one of his older t-shirts that he didn't wear anymore. It was a simple, white t-shirt, and it would be way too big on her, but it's better than her wearing her now tainted clothing. He handed it to her. _"Here, you can wear this." _Aelita smiled, and held it up to her nose, allowing her to take in the scent of Jeremie's cotton shirt.

"_It smells just like you," _she said. Jeremie smiled in return, and kissed her on the cheek. She blushed.

"_How do you feel, Aelita?"_

"_I feel better… thank you, Jeremie."_

"_If you feel like you're going to get sick again, you let me know, okay?" _Jeremie said, brushing the tip of his thumb against her cheeks. Aelita nodded.

"Einstein is daydreaming again!" Odd yelled, waving his hand in front of Jeremie's unresponsive face. Jeremie opened his eyes.

"Oh, uh, sorry Odd."

"We're being kicked out. Ulrich and Yumi want their special alone time," Odd sung, batting his eyes.

"Shut up, Odd." Ulrich snapped, leading them out the door. "She just doesn't want you guys to see her like this, that's all." The door closed behind them.

"I think I saw worse when Aelita got sick," Jeremie responded.

"Oh man, that was a mess. Sometimes it really sucks having a best friend who doesn't grasp being human, she couldn't figure out when she was and wasn't going to throw up!" Odd mocked.

"It's not funny, Odd. Don't make fun of her." Jeremie's fists clenched at his sides.

"Aw, lighten up, Einstein. You're so tense! Are you going to keep up with this if Aelita doesn't wake up?"

"Don't say that."

"Jeremie, you're the smartest one out of all of us, you're the one that needs to stay open minded. You've got to admit it's possible…"

"It's not possible." Jeremie stared harshly at Odd, his nostrils flaring.

"Jeremie… what's gotten into you…?"

"Nothing. I need to be alone." Jeremie threw his book bag over his back, gave Odd the cold shoulder, and quickly walked away. Odd stared at him, concerned, but only shrugged. Grabbing ahold of the railing, Jeremie ran down the stairs with each step thudding and creaking below him. He made a sharp turn around the railing attached to the final step, and dashed out of the door, not even bothering to say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Ishiyama. The sun had set, the streets were empty, and the air had grown cold. Jeremie ran as fast as he possibly could down the sidewalk, tears coursing down his face, flying behind him. A car sped by, crashing into the puddles that lined the border between the sidewalk and the street. Jeremie was instantly and thoroughly soaked by the cold, murky water; but he kept on going. He ran, ran, and ran some more, until he finally reached where he had planned to go: the hospital.

Jeremie knew it was past visiting hours, but that wasn't stopping him. He pushed his way through the slow-moving revolving door and walked into the lobby, not even bothering to stop at the front desk. He travelled down the hallway until he reached the dual elevators. Jeremie pressed the 'up' button, where he impatiently waited for the doors to open, rapidly tapping his foot and crossing his arms. When the doors did open, Jeremie shoved pass the couple who was taking their time in exiting the elevator, and banged his palm against the button for the 9th floor. Taking no time, Jeremie squeezed out of the elevator before the doors had even fully opened. He sprinted to the right and ran down the hall until he finally reached Aelita's room. Jeremie had just run for quite some time, so he stopped to catch his breath for a few minutes before finally sneaking inside. He threw his back pack onto the chair, and walked over to Aelita. Jeremie only glanced at her for a few moments before throwing his face down onto the bed, weeping hysterically.

"Aelita," he sobbed through broken sentences. After a few moments, he raised his head from the bed, wiping his tears off on his sleeve and sniffling. He looked over at Aelita while taking her little hand into his grasp, softly kissing it. "Oh, Aelita," he sniffed. "It's been a little over a week now. Not a moment goes by where you don't cross my mind. Earlier, I thought about the time you were very sick and I took care of you. Yesterday, I thought about when I took you out for your first ice cream cone. There's still so much of this world to explore, so much that you haven't seen… and now, I'm not so sure you'll ever get to see it." Aelita's breathing was slow, yet steady. She looked so content and peaceful. The heart monitor was annoying; each shrill beat pierced Jeremie's ear drums. He wished he had brought ear plugs.

A single tear escaped from the corner of Jeremie's eye, dripping down onto Aelita's hand. The drop sparkled amongst her brilliant snow-white skin. Jeremie laid his head on Aelita's chest, pressing his ear against her upper left breast. He closed his eyes and listened to the tender sound of her heart beat, syncing his own breathing with hers. The quiet, gentle 'lub-dub' of her heart muscle pumping away relaxed Jeremie. It gave him hope, reminding him that she was still well and alive; she was merely just taking a long nap. Jeremie removed his head from her chest, exhaling deeply. He nuzzled her neck, and gave a little kiss on her ear lobe.

"Aelita," he cooed into her ear. "I brought something for you. I hope it will help you have sweet dreams while you're sleeping." Jeremie walked over to his bag, unzipping it and digging through it. He shoved his arms elbow deep into the bag, searching around until he found what he was looking for. Jeremie pulled out Mr. Puck, and walked back over to Aelita's bed. He placed it between her arm and her torso, tucking him in underneath the hospital's heated blankets. Jeremie leaned over and gave Aelita a kiss on the forehead before turning around to walk out the door. Behind him, he heard the small 'dink' of something falling onto the floor. He turned around. "What in the world…" he muttered. Jeremie walked over to the bedside and looked down at the bare, linoleum flooring. There was a small, black speck on the floor that didn't seem to have been there previously. Raising an eyebrow, Jeremie bent over and picked it up. It was a Micro SD card that appeared to have fallen from behind Mr. Puck's ear, the same way that the train station key to Franz Hopper's diary had fallen out.

Jeremie gazed upon the Micro SD card in awe. Turning it over to examine it, he noticed the initial's "F.H." engraved in it.

"What are you trying to do, Franz?" he whispered under his breath, rotating the tiny card between his fingers.


	9. Voices

Jeremie leaned back in his computer chair, cracking his knuckles and stretching himself out, preparing for a long night. He eagerly inserted the Micro SD card into the appropriate slot on his computer's tower. Jeremie exhaled deeply and took a sip of the ice cold, bottled tea sitting on his desk as he waited for the card's contents to boot up. Soon enough, his computer recognized the SD card and began to install the appropriate drivers to open up the files within.

"Here we go," Jeremie softly spoke as he guided his mouse cursor to the new folder on his desktop. Suddenly, he paused, and took his hand off of his mouse. His brows pressed together, and he drew his hand close to his mouth, brushing his index finger across his lips. "Wait a minute…" he glared at the file. "What if this is just another one of XANA's tricks…" Jeremie paused, staring at the luminescence of the screen. The brightness of the text burned into his retinas. He spent a long moment debating on whether or not to carry through with his actions. If it was another one of XANA's plots, this could infect his computer and ruin everything. Aelita would be comatose forever. If it wasn't XANA's doing, and he decided to ignore the file, then he could be missing out on very important information that could save his angel. It appeared to be a lose-lose situation.

Finally, he closed his eyes whilst taking a deep breath, and double clicked on the SD card's folder. Promptly after, an audio window popped up. Jeremie keenly leaned forward, almost pressing his nose against the monitor. Without hesitance, he clicked play.

"Hello," a broken voice in the audio clip started. The sound quality was wretched. Every word was masked by static, an intense buzzing, and whirring.

"Are you kidding me? I can't even make anything out!" The audio file was not very long, and Jeremie only managed to make out a few words. He replayed it several times attempting to decipher it, but to no avail. The echo of footsteps from down the hall caused Jeremie to jump out of his chair and into his bed.

"Belpois, is that you in there making that horrible racket?" Jim pounded incessantly on his door.

"He never goes away…" Jeremie muttered.

"What was that? I know you're awake!" Jim inserted his master key and pried Jeremie's door open, storming in furiously. He was startled to hear only the soft humming of Jeremie's sleeping computer and a silhouette of the blonde boy snoozing peacefully in his bed. Or at least, what appeared to be him snoozing peacefully. Jim raised an eyebrow and left Jeremie's room, slamming the door shut behind him. Jeremie hid under his covers, staring at the crumpled piece of paper he had used to write down what he managed to make out of the audio clip.

"Well… it's a start."

A few hours later, Jeremie was awakened by more banging on his door.

"Oi, come out of there!"

"Huh? What?" Jeremie threw off his covers and reached for his glasses, rubbing his weary eyes and putting them on. He walked over to his door and opened it, where he was greeted by two looming male figures dressed in complete black. They wore deep black sunglasses that hid their eyes, and had microphones implanted in their ears. Jeremie screamed as one of the men grabbed his shirt collar and began to drag him down the hall.

"We know what you've been doing."

"What are you talking about?" Jeremie squirmed and kicked trying to break himself free, but their grip was too tight. He screamed for help, but not a single door opened with a curious student stepping out to see where the noise was coming from.

"We have Aelita." With that, Jeremie immediately calmed himself, ready to do whatever they so demanded. He stared up at the men, his eyes pleading for her location.

"What? What do you mean you have her? Where is she?" The men in black did not respond. Instead, one man lifted Jeremie up and threw him over his shoulder. The other removed a roll of duct tape from inside his jacket's pocket, sealing Jeremie's mouth shut. His muffled screams reverberated throughout the empty hallway. No matter how hard he tried to cry out, nobody was coming to save him.

Jeremie was thrown into a dark room where he bounced down several stairs, twisting his ankle along the way. He curled up on the floor holding his ankle, tears sneaking out of his eyes from the pain. A single, dim light was switched on. The light was only bright enough to illuminate a small circle around it, but didn't quite reach the depths of the room. Jeremie looked around, examining the strange area. It was damp, cold, and concrete. There was a leak somewhere; Jeremie could hear the gentle drops of water plinking against the ground. It was empty for the most part, with cobwebs and cracks in the wall being the only decoration. One corner of the room contained two towers of rusty, old filing cabinets. A splintered, wooden stool sat next to it. It had only three legs. The air was stale, and Jeremie could see mold creeping up the slate walls.

Jeremie began to gently tug at the corners of the duct tape over his mouth, before holding his breath and ripping it off. He briefly yelped. Jeremie wanted to see if there was anything interesting inside the filing cabinet, but he was soon reminded he had an injured ankle as he attempted to stand up. As the weak, little genius curled on the floor caressing his ankle, a small whimper from one of the room's dark corners met his ear drum. Jeremie quickly turned to where the sound was coming from, meeting a horrific sight. There she was. Aelita was tightly tied up with frayed ropes that cut into her skin. She was horribly bruised and deeply cut. The beaten pinkette began to slowly open her eyes, revealing pain, sorrow, fear, and a desperate plea for rescue. Jeremie reached out to her.

"AELITA!"

"Gooooooood Morning! That's right, it's currently 7 A.M. on this beautiful, Autumn morning, and you don't have to worry much more because it's Wednesday and the week is already half over!" Jeremie's eyes burst open as the irritating sound of his alarm forcefully pulled him out of his nightmare. He rolled over and slammed the Snooze button.

"I'm never sleeping again."

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show up for breakfast." Ulrich scooted over, making room for the zombiefied Jeremie.

"Geez Jeremie, you look like you haven't slept in days," Odd mumbled with a full mouth, taking a generous bite into his apple.

"Well, I haven't, really. I can't fall asleep anymore without waking up an hour later from a bad dream." Jeremie sighed and sank his face into his wrists. "But, let's talk about something else. Something really weird happened to me yesterday at the hospital."

"What?" The two asked in unison.

"A little memory card fell out of Mr. Puck's ear while I was visiting Aelita. It has some sort of audio clip on it, but right now it is way too noisy for me to really decipher. I managed to get these few words out, though." Jeremie laid down the fragile sheet of paper for his friends to see. The both eagerly leaned over, looking at the new clue.

"Hello, Know, Aelita, Five?" Odd read.

"I'm guessing whoever recorded this knows something about Aelita."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that the memory card had Franz Hopper's initials carved into it."

The two looked at Jeremie in disbelief, but their state of awe was quickly interrupted by the familiar voice of a woman coming from around the corner.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey, look who's back! You feeling better?"

"I'm feeling much better, thank you," Aelita said, as she sat down next to Ulrich. Jeremie sat across from her, staring with his mouth wide open. He immediately jumped up and wrapped his arms around Aelita.

"Aelita! I can't believe you're back! What are you doing here?! Did XANA give up on his attack?!" Aelita stared back at him as if he was a nut case.

"Umm, Einstein, what's gotten into you?" Odd piped in, both eyebrows raised.

"What are you talking about?" Jeremie snapped. "It's Aelita! Aren't you happy?"

"Umm, Jeremie, let go of me…you're crushing me…" Yumi said. Jeremie looked up at her in shock. The image of Aelita disappeared. He was standing in the middle of the lunch room tightly holding Yumi, with the others staring at him.

"But… you were just…Aelita…"

"Okay, I think somebody needs to go back to bed." The body of Yumi stood before him, but it was Aelita's voice he was hearing.

"Yeah, I agree with you there," Mr. Delma's voice echoed. Odd and Ulrich had been replaced by the principal and Jim. Jeremie stepped back in horror, and started babbling and screaming. The closer his friends got to him in an effort to calm him down, the more riled up he became. The entire cafeteria was staring at him, snickering and poking fun.

"Let go of me, Jim! I have work to do!"

"Jeremie, what are you talking about? It's me, Ulrich!"

"Oh, so now you're trying to be an imposter? Nice one Jim, I'm sure you're a professional at that even though you'd rather not talk about it!" Jeremie snapped at Ulrich, forcing himself free of his grip.

"That's it Einstein, you're going to the infirmary." Odd and Yumi grabbed him by the arms, while Ulrich grabbed both of his feet. They quickly carried the disoriented preteen out of the cafeteria, while the rest of the students hurled with both confusion and laughter.

An hour later, Jeremie woke up feeling weak and groggy. He looked around the dull, white room that he had been locked in.

"What…. Where am I?" He sat up, rubbing the right side of his head. "Ow…"

"Oh, Jeremie, good to see you're awake." Nurse Yolanda walked over to his bedside and punctually jabbed a thermometer under his tongue. "That was quite a scene you pulled earlier this morning, I had to give you a sedative to calm you down so you may feel a little out of it for the rest of the day."

"Well I'm feeling much better now, can I go?" Nurse Yolanda stared at him as she removed the thermometer. Seeing he had a normal temperature, she rubbed her chin in subconscious debate.

"Well, on one condition. Your friends mentioned that you haven't been sleeping much the past week or so, and I feel that's what caused your hallucinations. You may go, as long as you head straight back to your room and get some rest."

"Yes ma'am, anything you say ma'am," Jeremie grinned as he enthusiastically hopped out of his bed and ran down the hall. Yolanda raised an eyebrow and stared at him, taken aback by his sudden burst of energy.

_Piece of cake, _he thought to himself as he approached his door. _Since I'm forced to be in my room for once, now I have all the time I need to download an auditory program and clean up that file. _Jeremie opened his door, quickly locking it behind him, and ran straight to his computer. He began researching all of the top quality audio programs he could find. After a mere half an hour searching he found the one that he deemed fit, although it cost a heavy price. That was no match for Jeremie, though. He grinned as he began to hack into the website to obtain a free version of the high quality software. A total of an hour later, and Jeremie was ready to go.

"Alright Franz, let's see what you've got to say."

Jeremie pushed play… and nothing happened.

"What?!" He frantically pressed play over and over again, but only complete silence resulted. He lowered his face into his palms, sighing. "I knew it was too good to be true… the noise reduction program must have completely wiped out the file!"

Jeremie slammed his face down onto his keyboard. Shortly after, he lifted up his head which now had indentations from the keyboard in his forehead. The distraught and now hopeless boy fought for the energy to get out of his chair. He threw himself down onto his bed, furiously crashing his fist against his night stand. Unknowingly to Jeremie, when he had collapsed onto the keyboard just the right buttons had been pressed, resurrecting the damaged audio file. It was waiting to be played, but Jeremie wanted to lie in bed and sulk. He smothered himself into his pillow, finally reaching the point where he believed that all hope was lost. Aelita wasn't coming back. He ruined what could be the only chance of Franz contacting him. Two weeks had passed since she fell comatose. XANA had been quiet, which meant something big and undefeatable was brewing. Jeremie exhaled deeply, and closed his eyes.

"_Jeremie…"_

Aelita's voice cooed into his ears.

"_Jeremie… don't give up on me just yet, Jeremie…" _Jeremie slowly lifted himself up, looking around his room.

"…Aelita?"

"_Jeremie, I'm lost. You have to find me Jeremie…"_

"Lost? Where? Aelita!" Jeremie threw his pillows and comforter off of his mattress. He got on all fours and checked underneath his bed, and then he even lifted up his rug and looked under there. "Aelita! I'm here, Aelita! Answer me!"

"Knock, knock, Einstein."

Jeremie grunted. "What do you want, Odd?"

"Following doctor's orders, that's all." Odd helped himself into Jeremie's room the second he unlocked the door, looking at the mess he had just created from his search. "Um, what happened here? I didn't hear the tornado drill."

"Odd, I think Aelita is trying to contact me somehow!" With that, Odd immediately hung his head and crossed his arms.

"Jeremie, this is going too far…"

"No, listen to me! She was just talking to me, I swear! She says that she's lost…"

"Lost where?"

"Well, I'm not sure, she disappeared after that…Aelita…? Aelita, can you hear me?" Jeremie stared at his ceiling, calling out Aelita's name.

"Do you realize how much of an idiot you look like doing that? Come on, you're supposed to be resting." Odd walked up to Jeremie and pushed him back onto his bed. "Night night, sleeping beauty!" He grinned and left the room, gently closing the door. Jeremie sighed, angrily throwing one of his pillows against the wall.

"I wish they would just understand." Jeremie lay down on his bed, wrapping himself in his comforter. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Aelita…" he spoke. "Wherever you are… I'm listening."

Odd walked down the hallway with his hands in his pockets, whistling along the way. He stopped to pull his phone out of his hoodie's pocket as it started ringing, noting that the caller I.D. read "Ulrich."

"Hey, good buddy! What's up? Oh… yeah, he's asleep now. I checked on him. Ulrich, he's hearing voices now. I'm really worried about him. The kid is going crazy. I know, I know… he says he heard Aelita talking to him."

"Della-Robbia, what do you think you're doing here? How many times have I said that no students are to be in the dormitory during the day?" Jim jumped from behind the corner like a thief in the night, taking Odd by surprise.

"Oh great, hold on a sec." Odd covered the speaker of his phone with his hand while turning to Jim. "Cool it Jim, I was just checking on Jeremie…"

"Oh, yeah? And what's he doing in the dorm during the day?"

"He's sick, you can ask Yolanda yourself. Really, Jim!"

Jim stared down at Odd for a moment, rubbing his jawline with his thumb. "Alright," he said. "I'll let it go this time… but as for you, you get back to class!"

"But Jim, I don't have a class right now…"

"Beat it!"

Odd obeyed his orders, running down the hall. Suddenly remembering he still had a call with Ulrich connected, he grabbed his phone and held it to his ear.

"Sorry Ulrich, you-know-who is on the prowl again. Anyway, I was about to head to the hospital. I've only visited Aelita once. Oh, um, well… sure. I guess, um, I kind of wanted to go alone, but that's okay. Meet you there I guess. Yeah, after school. Later Ulrich." Odd snuck his phone into his pocket and looked around; making sure Jim wasn't following him to see to it that he had left the dormitory's premises. "I guess if I wanna go alone, I'll have to go now…"

"_Jeremie…"_

Jeremie leapt up from the floor. He was inside a black void.

"_Jeremie… please help me!"_

"Aelita?!" Jeremie called, looking around him to find nothing but vast blackness.

"_Jeremie, you have to find me!"_

"But Aelita… you're in the hospital, I know where you are."

"_No, Jeremie… you have to find me. I'm lost."_

"I don't understand, Aelita…"

The gravity of the void ceased, and Jeremie was tugged into the empty atmosphere.

"_Jeremie!"_

Jeremie turned around. He narrowed his eyes to try and make out the image that was quickly approaching him. It was Aelita in her Lyoko attire, floating towards Jeremie.

"Aelita!" Jeremie cried out, reaching towards her. They both slowly drifted towards each other, extending their arms until finally their fingertips touched. Jeremie woke up.

"Ugh," he spat. "Not another dream!" Jeremie looked over at his desk, where his sleeping laptop lied. An idea sprang into his genius head. "If I want to figure this out, I'll have to confront her myself." And with that, Jeremie threw his computer into his bag and ran out of the door, leaving it wide open.

Odd had managed to sneak off of Kadic's campus, and finally reached the hospital. He gently opened her door as if he were trying to avoid waking her up, although that was a silly thought. Odd gasped upon seeing her sleeping body. He walked over to her, and began to twirl his hair in her fingers.

"Aelita…" he whispered. "Can you hear me? You've been in a coma for over two weeks now. XANA has been awfully quiet; we've only had one attack so far. All of us miss you; I'm sorry I haven't found the time to visit you more. Most importantly, Jeremie misses you the most. He's literally losing his mind." Odd stared down at Aelita's relaxed face, with a risky thought entering his mind. He looked around to make sure nobody was watching, and that Ulrich and Yumi hadn't showed up yet. "I've always wanted to do this…" Odd slowly leaned in towards Aelita's face, before his nose touched hers. He planted a short, gentle kiss among her tender lips.

"ODD!" The sound of a heavy book bag crashing onto the floor followed.

Odd, startled, jumped back from the bed and turned around to face the one who had called his name. Jeremie was standing in the door way with his mouth gaping open, his laptop and books scattered beneath him.


	10. Broken

**(Hurray! Random P.O.V changes that give the reader a better idea of what's going on inside the main character's head! :D In case you couldn't figure it out, this chapter is in Jeremie's point of view.)**

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to think. I don't know what to feel.

I get down on the floor and sweep together all of the papers that fell out of my bag. The floor is cold; it hurts my knees to kneel down on it. I can't even talk. I can't look at him. He keeps trying to tell me he's sorry, that he doesn't know what got into him. Yeah, right. I want to punch him. I'm so angry at him. He approaches me, and I immediately back away.

"Get out of my face," I say to him. He starts babbling again. I wish he would shut up. Shut up, Odd. Shut the hell up. He just keeps going and going. "I don't want to hear it," I scream.

"Jeremie, I'm really sorry. Please. It was just one little kiss, I'm sorry! I don't know what I was thinking."

Just one little kiss. Right. I turn away from him, so angry that I start to cry. The salty tears running down my cheeks bring warmth to my body against the frigid air of this hospital room. Odd puts his shoulder on me, still babbling.

THWACK.

Oh my God, did I just do that? Shit, his nose is bleeding. He runs out of the room before I even say anything. My knuckles are throbbing. I stand there, staring at my clenched fist. I wasn't even in my own frame of mind for a split second. It's like something else possessed me and took over. XANA? No, just anger. There are two, tiny drops of blood on the floor. They stick out like a sore thumb compared to the snow-white linoleum. Shit. Why did I do that?

More importantly, why did Odd do that? I thought he was my best friend. Best friends don't go and kiss the girls that they know you love. God, I love her. I wish I had gotten the chance to tell her more while she was still here on Earth.

I love you, Aelita. I love you, I love you, I love you. It doesn't matter how many times I say it, I know you can't hear me.

I can't sleep, I can't breathe, and I can't eat. Every thought that ever crosses my mind is about her. My face hurts. My face literally hurts from the angst that has been tattooed upon it. My heart skips a beat every time I look at her, but at the same time I'm stricken with such an intense sting of pain that I'm forced to look away. She is a true sleeping beauty, lying in that bed all tucked in her warm blankets with her beloved doll by her side.

I feel so alone and cold when I'm awake, because I'm forced to face the reality that Aelita is still in a coma and I have no idea how to bring her back.

But when I'm asleep, I feel happy, because Aelita is there with me. I'd rather be in a nightmare knowing that Aelita is right next to me, than in real life knowing she's unconscious in some creepy old hospital room.

In a way, though, she's with me every waking moment. I see her everywhere. I'm even hearing her voice now. I'm hallucinating and constantly having night terrors. I can't tell what is and isn't real anymore. I can barely function. If I can barely function, how am I supposed to bring her back?

I love you, Aelita.

I love you.

"I LOVE YOU, DAMMIT. YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!" Oh, did I say that out loud? A nurse stares at me through the window as she walks by. I'm on my knees by Aelita's bedside, sobbing into her sheets. I can't stop. I can't stop crying. I'm thirteen years old, but I'm sitting here balling my eyes out like I'm five. Boy, am I pathetic. I know if Aelita was here though, she'd understand. Then again, if Aelita was here, I wouldn't be crying in the first place. I've reached my breaking point. I've shattered. I am broken.

A million tiny pieces of Jeremie are scattered across the floor. I kick them around. That's all I am, a bunch of dirt to be stomped on.

"_Jeremie."_

Oh, lovely. The voices are back. I lift my head from the comfort of Aelita's bedspread, looking around the room.

"_Jeremie…"_

I look over at her to make sure it's not her lifeless body that's speaking to me. Nope, no talking zombies here. Just me turning into a schizophrenic. I answer her, only because this is the only method of communication I can get with her.

"_Listen to the tape, Jeremie."_

The tape? The tape is trashed. I screwed it up when I hacked into that website and pirated an audio program. I tell her that, but it doesn't seem to faze her.

"_Jeremie, listen to the tape."_

Are you deaf? I just told you it was ruined. She once again tells me to listen to the tape, and her voice fades out into the emptiness of the room. I roll my eyes, but part of me forces me to actually walk over and open my laptop. I'm not really sure what I'm expecting to happen, but I open up my lap buddy and bring up the file. I sigh, and press play.

Oh, wow.

I can't believe what I'm hearing.

Oh my God.


	11. The Tape

**Hello readers! It took me a lot longer to update this time around, and I'm sorry for the quality of this chapter. It's not very entertaining. The problem is, I'm starting to run out of really big ideas for this story, and I'm not sure where to take it next. It'd be great if you guys could please PM me some ideas! Thanks :)**

It was half past eight, and most of the Kadic dorm residents had already retreated to their rooms after dinner. Jim was prowling the hallways, getting ready to initiate the lights out policy. The faint bellowing of his endless lectures from down the hall echoed through Odd's ears as he slowly made his way to his room. He made no effort to hurry, dragging his feet along the carpet with his eyes glued to the ground.

_What is WRONG with me? _He thought to himself. _I can't believe I did that. Of all the lousy things I could possibly do… ugh, everybody knows Aelita is Jeremie's. I'm such a lame-o!  
_

Eventually, Odd reached his dorm, where Ulrich had long been awaiting him. He stared at the door for a good while, his eyes travelling along the swirls that were carved into the fine wood. Odd closed his eyes and sighed heavily while wrapping his scrawny hand around the door's cold, metal handle.

"There you are!" Ulrich perched up as he heard the click of the door's handle turning. He had already changed into his tank top and boxers and had been studying some notes from his Chemistry book. "Hey, sorry we didn't make it to the hospital. Yumi got caught up in some stuff and I didn't wanna go alone so I stayed here to study." Odd barely glanced at Ulrich before throwing himself face-down onto his own bed. He muttered not a word, burying his face into his pillow as if he were attempting to smother himself. Ulrich turned his attention away from the book, and to his seemingly depressed friend. "Odd? What's wrong?"

Odd mumbled something under his pillow, but Ulrich couldn't make it out.

"What did you say?" he asked. "I can't understand you…" Again, Odd mumbled under his pillow. Frustrated, Ulrich walked over to Odd's side of the room and yanked the pillow out of his grip. "Would you stop mumbling already and tell me what's wrong?"

"I SAID I KISSED AELITA!"

The pillow slid out of Ulrich's grasp, plopping onto the floor. He took one step back, staring at Odd in disbelief.

"You… you WHAT!?" He shouted.

"Yeah, I know."

"You are such a huge lame-o! Jeremie is going to KILL you when he finds out!" Ulrich kicked the pillow against the wall, pulling at his hair. "I can't believe this!"

"He already knows."

"What!?"

"He was there when I did it."

"YOU DID IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM? HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE, ODD?"

Tears began to pool in the corners off Odd's eyes before sneaking out of their territory and crawling down his cheeks. He sniffed and wiped the wetness of his face onto his sleeve, turning away from Ulrich. Ulrich observed Odd's despair, placing his palm against his face while letting out a sigh.

"Why did you do it?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? What do you mean you don't know?"

"It means that I don't know, Ulrich! I don't know, everybody knows that Aelita is pretty much spoken for, and I guess I've always had a little crush on her. Nothing big, but still something I thought about. Since we were alone, and she didn't really have any control over the situation… I just… I wasn't thinking. I went for it. And then Jeremie walked in right as I did it."

"You took advantage of her! You're such a cosmic creep!"

Odd buried his face into his, palms, silently weeping. Ulrich walked over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder, but Odd quickly shrugged it off.

"I need…to be…alone," Odd sobbed into broken sentences. Without saying a word, Ulrich left the room.

_"Jeremie…where are we?"_

Aelita looked around the rink inquisitively, watching the different people twirl amongst the ice. A slight shiver ran down her spine, causing her to wrap her arms around her petite frame. The chill made her smile; she liked the feel of being a little cold. Aelita walked up to the barrier that separated the solid ice rink from the lobby, pressing her nose against the glass. There were children much smaller than her that were moving so gracefully, yet those that were older than her seemed that they couldn't even stand up. The whole situation was very intriguing to Aelita. She walked back over to the bench where Jeremie was and stared down at the strange boots he had placed in front of her, not sure what to do. He looked at her and smiled at her curiosity.

_"Like this, Aelita." _Jeremie slipped on his ice skates and laced them up, demonstrating to Aelita how to do so. She stared in wonder, raising an eyebrow. Aelita picked up one of her boots and turned it over, observing it's odd shape. She gently ran her finger across the metal blade, before Jeremie gasped and grabbed the skate from her. _"No!" _he yelped. _"It's very sharp, you'll cut yourself Aelita. Here, let me help you." _

Jeremie knelt down in front of Aelita, taking her fragile little foot and slipping it into the ice skate. When both of her elfin feet were firmly planted into the skates, he took both of her hands and helped her up, smiling at her.

_"Woah…ah!" _Aelita yelped as she lost her balance in the strange shoes, stumbling forward into Jeremie's arms.

_"Careful," _Jeremie said, and kissed the top of Aelita's head. _"Come on!" _He grabbed her hand and led her into the ice rink.

_"It's about time, Einstein!" _Ulrich waved at the couple, turning his feet so that the blades would catch onto the ice and cease his movements. Yumi was behind Ulrich, with her fair hands placed on his shoulders.

_"Sorry," _Jeremie shrugged. With Aelita's hand intertwined with his, he skated over to Yumi and Ulrich.

_"Is this real ice?" _She asked, staring at the crystal ground beneath her feet.

_"Yeah! Just imagine you're in the ice sector, Aelita! It's not so bad when you get used to it." _Yumi spun around in front of Aelita, showing her how easy skating could be. She soon dashed off around the rink, twirling and laughing while Ulrich shouted after her. The two held each other's hands, having the time of their lives. Aelita stared at them in amusement. What a wonderful place this was!

Aelita closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, picturing herself back in Lyoko in the polar region. She felt the frigid air nip at her nose, giving her a sense of comfort. Without hesitation, she set off around the rink. The movements came naturally to her, letting the cool breeze carry her around. She dipped one of her little legs into the air, spinning around on the tip of her other foot. Aelita squealed in delight, becoming lost in her graceful stature. Yumi, Ulrich, and Jeremie all stared at her in desire.

_"Wow…" _Ulrich said, shocked. "_She's the best one here!"_

_ "Where did she learn all of that?" _Yumi pondered. All Jeremie did was blush and stare at her. Aelita joined him by her side, tugging on his arm.

_"Well? Aren't you going to join me?"_

_ "Uh…well I… uh…" _

Splat.

The second Jeremie took his hands off of the rail he fell flat on his butt. His friends looked down on him in laughter as he rubbed his sore tailbone. Aelita giggled, reaching out a hand to help him up.

_"Come on, it's not so bad once you get used to it."_

Tap tap tap tap tap.

Jeremie's head sprang up from the face of his keyboard. He spun around and looked at his door, the source of the sudden noise.

"Jeremie, are you in there? It's Ulrich." Jeremie repositioned his glasses and quickly walked up to his door, leading Ulrich in.

"Why are you here?"

"Odd kicked me out…" Jeremie cringed. All he had to do was hear his name and his body became overrun with anger. "I know what happened, Jeremie. I'm really sorry."

"What? Oh, yeah, um, hey, I'm glad you're here. I just called Yumi; she's on her way."

"What? Why?"  
"I have something I need to show you."

"What is it?"

"I'll wait until Yumi gets here, but… it's how we can save Aelita."

"What? Then shouldn't Odd be here, too?"

Jeremie turned away from Ulrich, clenching his fists against his keyboard. "I don't want him here," he grunted.

"But Jeremie… he's our friend."

"Is he?" Jeremie snapped. "Would a good friend turn around and take advantage of someone else's girlfriend?"

"Look Jeremie, I know Odd can be really dumb sometimes, but, wait, did you just say girlfriend?"

"Um, well," Jeremie blushed.

"Hey, Jeremie, I'm here!" Yumi panted from the outside of his room. Jeremie quickly regained his composure and let her in.

"Good," he said. "I think you and Ulrich should have a seat on my bed. You'll need to be sitting down for this." Confused, the two obeyed his orders and sat down next to each other.

"Well?" Yumi asked. "I snuck out and ran all the way here, so it must be important, right?"

"Just listen." Jeremie sat down in front his computer and browsed through several files before bringing up the audio tape sent by Franz Hopper. He turned around and looked at Ulrich and Yumi with a stern look on his face. "Are you ready?" The two nodded in return. Jeremie pressed play.

"Hello Jeremie," the tape started. "This is Franz Hopper. It is difficult for me to make contact with you, as I am under constant watch by XANA. This may be the last time you can hear from me. I know how to help Aelita, but you must find me in Sector 5 and retrieve the appropriate data. Your anti-virus made Aelita temporarily vulnerable to XANA, and he wasted no time taking up this opportunity. She is a prisoner here, somewhere on Lyoko. What you are seeing on Earth is merely an empty shell of her being. I was the one who deactivated the last tower, unfortunately this is not a task I can do often. We must act quickly, time is running out. If we do not save Aelita soon, she will be stuck here forever. My coordinates in Sector Five are…"

Jeremie sat solemnly with his eyes closed. The fluorescent glow of his computer's monitor engulfed him like a return trip bubble. Yumi stared at her feet, and Ulrich's eyes were fixed on the back of Jeremie's head.

"I… wow." Yumi stuttered, slowly raising her view towards Jeremie.

"But… what are the coordinates? He didn't say!" Ulrich shouted.

Jeremie spun his computer chair around, crossing his legs. "I don't know; the tape cuts off. But I think if we try hard enough, we'll be able to find him…and save Aelita."

"Exactly how is he going to help us get Aelita? Even if we find where she is a prisoner, how do we get her back in her own body?"

"I… I don't know…" Jeremie stared at the floor, crossing his arms.

"What's wrong? Why do you look so sad?" Yumi stood up, joining Jeremie by his side. He looked up at her, his eyes glazed over with sorrow.

"My anti-virus did this. It made her vulnerable so XANA could capture her. So… this really is my entire fault."

"Jeremie," Ulrich started. "Don't beat yourself up over this, okay? Your intentions were good because you were just trying to help. We'll find a way, don't worry."

Yumi nodded at Ulrich in agreement, smiling. Then, she noticed something missing. "Hey," she said, "Where's odd?"

Jeremie and Ulrich's heads whipped around and they both fixed a deadly glare upon her face.

"Let's not talk about it," they both stabbed.


	12. Forgiveness

**Thanks to Ares-A, Smartguy5000, an Teen-Lyokofan7777 for the ideas that helped me get the story going again. Your ideas are all good, and really helped me out, so I'd love to see them keep coming! **

"Alright guys, the countdown has begun!"

Yumi and Ulrich dashed through the opening in the pale, blue wall of Sector 5. Yumi cautiously looked around, eyeing the vast space around her. Geometric shapes floated around, giving Sector 5 the image of a Tetris arena. Soon enough, the key was spotted straight ahead of them. It was completely out in the open with absolutely no obstacles in sight. A straight shot.

"This is too easy." Yumi narrowed her eyes, glaring into the distance.

"You say that all the time, and immediately after something bad happens," Ulrich replied. Shortly after, a large rumbling was heard. The entire room began to shake and crumble apart. "See what I mean? You jinxed us!"

A sickening moan crept up behind Yumi, followed by a sharp laser. Yumi yelped, and turned around to be faced with a group of creepers.

"You go get the Key, I'll handle them!"

"Super sprint!" Ulrich sped off towards the key, dodging the falling blocks left and right. Yumi threw her fans with grace and watched them slice through three creepers simultaneously. They immediately ruptured with their virtual guts spilling onto the floor. Yumi tucked her fans away, satisfied with their defeat. Meanwhile, Ulrich had successfully pressed the key to stop the countdown with only thirty seconds to go.

"Great job, guys," Jeremie spoke through the headset. "Now, step outside! Your taxi is waiting." Ulrich and Yumi left the dome of Sector 5, jumping off of the ledge to be caught by the approaching elevator. Once they had reached their destination, Yumi stepped forward towards the interface while Ulrich drew his saber and prepared for battle. For a good moment, Yumi stared blankly at the screen in front of her. "Um, Yumi… what are you doing?"

"Jeremie, I have no idea what you expect me to do."

"We're looking for Franz Hopper's coordinates! They might be listed in some data somewhere. Just mess around with it until I see something I might need." Yumi started playing around on the touch screen interface, not sure what she was looking for.

"Oh, Mr. Hopper…" Ulrich sang. "Come out; come out, wherever you are!"

"If only it were that simple," Yumi muttered. Soon enough, a squealing echoed in the distance as the mantas began to hatch. Yumi turned around. "Jeremie, the flying mantas have hatched!"

"Great… okay, I'll bring you guys back in. I think I might have found something!"

Ulrich and Yumi looked at each other slyly. Yumi withdrew her fans from behind her back, and Ulrich positioned himself with his saber.

"On three?"

"Guys… what are you…"

"One…two…three!"

"Hey! I was going to bring you back in myself!"

* * *

Ulrich and Yumi climbed down the ladder to meet Jeremie in the laboratory.

"That was a stupid thing to do," Jeremie mumbled.

"Why? It didn't do any harm. We didn't feel like waiting," Ulrich defended.

"So did you find anything, Jeremie?"

"No…I double checked all of the data you just sent me. Nothing of any use."

"I'm really sorry, Jeremie… I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing."

"It's not your fault. You're not Aelita, you didn't know what you were doing."

Yumi sulked at Jeremie's comment, before turning to walk away. "Yeah… I'm not Aelita…"

"Huh? What did I say?" Jeremie shot Ulrich a confused look while shrugging. Ulrich scoffed at Jeremie, and went to follow Yumi. "Sheesh, when did they get so sensitive?"

"_Jeremie…"  
_ There it was again. Aelita's soft-spoken voice reverberated throughout the room, travelling through Jeremie's ears. He drew his attention away from Lyoko's interface and looked around the lab.

"Ae…Aelita?" He said. "Is that you?"

"_Jeremie!" _The voice screamed.

"Aelita? What's wrong! Where are you?!"

"_You have to find me."_

"Well, I'm trying, but you're not exactly making that very easy!"

"_If you forgive Odd, it might get easier…"_

"What? No way! NO!"

"_Forgive him, Jeremie…he can help."  
_

"Are you even listening to yourself? I can't forgive him." This time, the voice did not respond. "Hello? Aelita?" Still no answer. Jeremie was soon distracted by a vibration in his pocket. He looked at his phone to see Odd calling. Jeremie glared at his phone, overwhelmed with flashbacks from the night he had seen his best friend betray him. The cold stab of jealousy pierced Jeremie's veins. He threw his phone against the wall and walked away.

* * *

It was late at night, or rather, early in the morning, and Jeremie had tucked himself into bed long ago. It wasn't too long, though, before he started hearing Aelita's voice cooing into his hears again.

"_Jeremie…" _The pink haired girl's voice sang sweetly. Jeremie swapped at his head as her warm breath tickled his cartilage, imagining it to be a bug or a strand of his own hair. _"Oh, Jeremie…" _she sang again. _"Wake up…"_

This time, Jeremie forced his drooping eyelids open, peering into the darkness to see who was calling his name. He rubbed his eyes for a bit, until the image of Aelita standing in front of him became in focus. This grabbed his attention, and his eyes were weary no more.

"Aelita?!" he screamed. "Is that you?!" Jeremie reached out his hand to feel her arm, seeing if she was real or not. To his surprise, his hand went straight through her arm, as if she were a ghost. Jeremie grunted with confusion and raised his eyebrows.

"_Don't get your hopes up… I'm just a hallucination_," she giggled. "_Get up. I want to show you something." _Without hesitation, Jeremie obeyed his subconscious' desires, and reached down to the floor to grab his glasses. Aelita quickly left the room. Her hologram like figure didn't even have to open the door, she merely walked straight through the wall. Perplexed, Jeremie sprang up from his bed and opened his door. Poking his head past the frame, he saw the ghost-like image of Aelita standing at the end of the hallway, waving him on. "_Aren't you coming, Jeremie?" _

Jeremie swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded, leaving the comfort of his room and meeting Aelita by the staircase. She carelessly floated down the flights of stairs, with Jeremie hastily running after her. His bare feet pitter-pattered against the cold, linoleum stairs.

"Aelita!" he tenderly shouted, keeping his voice low. "Where are you taking me?" The hallucination of his beloved did not respond, merely giggling away as she travelled down into the girl's floor. She stood in front of the ladies' shower room. Jeremie's eyes widened. "Oh, no…" Aelita slipped through the wall, leaving Jeremie out in the hallway. "Aelita! I can't go in there! AELITA!" A noise echoed behind Jeremie, the sound of footsteps approaching. Paranoid, Jeremie regretfully snuck through the door and into the girl's shower room. He followed the ghostly echo of Aelita's laughter into the furthest corner of the dark, tiled room. She was waiting for him inside the one shower that was never used, because the water line to it had been disrupted. It smelled musty and damp, and the walls were coated with lime and rust. Because it was never used, it was also never cleaned. The shower head was losing a heavy battle to calcium, being completely devoured by the chalky, white substance.

"_Jeremie…" _The voice faded away. Jeremie looked around to see that Aelita was no longer there.

"Aelita?" he whispered. "Where did you go? Aelita!" Jeremie sighed and stared at the ground beneath him, where something odd caught his eye. The drain had oxidized completely, having become nothing but a ring of rust. There seemed to be a carving of some sort in the rust particles. Jeremie lowered himself using his toes as balance, and adjusted his glasses, staring at the etching. It was numbers of some sorts… appearing to be…coordinates. "Coordinates!" Jeremie shouted. He grabbed a pen out of his shirt pocket and hastily wrote the numbers down onto his hand. With the way that he was leaning on his toes, he lost his balance and fell backwards onto his bum. His glasses bounced up with him and toppled off of his face, falling onto the ground. It echoed quite loudly, and Jeremie winced as all of the bathroom's lights suddenly turned on.

"Who's in there?!" A grouchy, deep voice bellowed.

"Oh, no…" Jeremie mumbled. "Not Jim!"

"Alright, I know you're in here, so come out whoever you….BELPOIS?!" Jeremie looked up at Jim, giving him a half-wince, half-grin, before being pulled up by his shirt collar. "What on Earth are you doing in the ladies' shower room? Especially at this hour!"

"Well, I don't suppose you would believe me if I told you that I'm hallucinating Aelita, and my hallucination of her led me to a carving of coordinates for a virtual universe to find her long lost father right here in the shower that never gets used?"

"Oh, you think you're real funny, don't you? Let's see if the Principal laughs at your jokes, then. Back to your room, NOW! I'll deal with you in the morning." Of course, Jeremie obeyed, running out of bathroom and back into his room two floors up. Jeremie peeked at his wrist, looking at the numbers he had written down. He sat down in front of his computer, booted up the interface, and entered the coordinates he had discovered.

"_I'm waiting for you, Jeremie…"_

"I'm coming, Aelita."

A map of Sector 5 appeared on the screen, displaying a small white triangle. A triangle always represented one of the Lyoko warriors, or a monster. Aelita was yellow, while the rest were green, and monsters red… but what did this white triangle mean?

"It's…IT'S FRANZ HOPPER!" Jeremie pulled at his frazzled, blonde locks, screaming with joy. "IT'S FRANZ HOPPER! I FOUND FRANZ HOPPER! THANK YOU AELITA!"

"QUIET DOWN IN THERE!" Jim grunted, pounding on Jeremie's door.

* * *

"Hi, guys!" Jeremie grinned, sitting down at the breakfast table with Yumi and Ulrich.

"Well," Yumi said. "You're awfully happy today."

"I sure am! You'll NEVER guess what happened to me last night!"

"Well? Why don't you tell us?" Ulrich suggested, blowing on his hot chocolate to cool it down.

"Well, are you ready for another trip to Sector 5 tonight? Because Franz Hopper is waiting for us…" Yumi spit out her hot chocolate, and Ulrich dropped his spoon onto the floor, both of them staring at Jeremie in disbelief.

"You…he…what!?" They cried in unison. Jeremie sat back and shot both of them a proud and smug look before taking a bite into his croissant.

"Yup," he replied. "So, when do you guys wanna go? Right after school?"

"Um, Jeremie…" Ulrich muttered.

"What?"

Ulrich nudged his head towards the table behind them, where Odd was sitting solemnly by himself, stirring his hot chocolate in a repetitive motion. He sunk his right cheek into his palm, staring at the completely full tray in front of him.

"What about Odd?" he said. "Don't you think this is something he deserves to be involved in? He's a Lyoko warrior, Jeremie. You need to talk things out."

Jeremie threw his hands down onto the table, leaning towards Ulrich's face. "Oh yeah? I bet you wouldn't have that same attitude if I just went and kissed Yumi!"

"Jeremie, this is getting ridiculous," Yumi mumbled through a mouth full of green apple. "He is your best friend. And he's part of the group… which means he's part of the mission to save Aelita."

"Best friends don't betray each other."

"Jeremie, knock it off!" Ulrich snapped. "Best friends have fall outs all the time, and you know what they do? They talk things out! So if you were actually Odd's friend, you would care enough to talk to him and save your friendship! You wanna save Aelita? Then quit being a grouch, quit sulking, and kiss and make-up already!"

"Ulrich is right. You want us to go to Lyoko tonight? Then Odd is coming with us."

Odd looked up from his bowl of hot chocolate, eavesdropping on the argument coming from his friends. Jeremie noticed and glared at Odd, mentally demanding him to look away. Odd quickly drew his attention back to his plate, and Jeremie scoffed at Ulrich and Yumi.

"I'm going to the hospital. Cover for me in class." Jeremie walked away, not even bothering to take his tray with him.

* * *

"Hello, Aelita…" Jeremie smiled down at the angelic sleeping beauty, kissing her tender, little cheek. "It's been 3 weeks now. Every day gets harder and harder. I'm seeing you all the time, though, and I'm speaking to you, too. I'm working hard to get you out of this mess, thanks to Franz Hopper." Jeremie ran his bony fingertips through Aelita's tangled locks that had become a bedhead. "Tonight, we're going to go to Sector 5 and find him. Or at least, I hope we are… Odd did something that made me really angry. I hope you never find out about it." Jeremie turned away from Aelita and sighed, daydreaming into the distance. The sweet, joyful laughter of Aelita resonated fresh in his mind as if she were still here on Earth.

_ "Wheeee!" _Aelita squealed on the creaky swing in delight as she kicked her legs into the air. _"Higher, Jeremie! Push me higher!" _Jeremie laughed along with her and obliged, pushing the swing higher and higher.

The memory quickly faded, and a single, crystal-like tear slid down Jeremie's cheek. He wiped it away with his fingertips, and looked back over at Aelita.

_ "Jeremie, I had a wonderful time with you tonight…" _Aelita blushed, folding her hands in front of her and shyly staring at her feet. Jeremie blushed in return, scratching the back of his neck. He gazed into her brilliant, green eyes, his pupils travelling the never ending wonders of her face. He took one small step closer to her, almost hesitantly. As Aelita stared into the deep ocean of Jeremie's blue eyes, she smiled and also took a step closer. This pattern repeated until the two were so close, that their noses were almost touching each other.

_ "Aelita…" _Jeremie said, tilting his head slightly and steadily drawing his face closer to hers. As he spoke, Aelita could feel his warm breath against her cheeks, and the butterflies inside her stomach began to flutter around recklessly. She giggled at the feeling.

_ "Yes, Jeremie…?" _Aelita whispered, slowly closing her eyes and leaning into Jeremie.

"_I, uh… I…" _Jeremie closed his eyes and brushed his hand against Aelita's delicate, flushed cheeks. The two leaned into each other, with their lips barely a centimeter apart…

_ "Well, HEELLLOOOO lovebirds!" _Odd busted between the two, happily shouting.

"_ODD!"_ The two furiously yelled in unity.

"_Oh, I'm sorry, did I ruin the moment? Hehehehe!" _Odd cackled. _"Maybe you should think about that next time you try and eat face in front of my door!"_

_ "Huh?" _Jeremie looked around confusedly, taking note of his surroundings. "_Oh… Um… I thought we were in front of my room. Oops."_

_ "Jeremie, what does he mean by eat face? I thought cannibalism was bad... why would I eat your face?" _

Jeremie smacked his palm against his face. _"See what you've done, Odd?"_

Jeremie's fist clenched at his sides. He sat on Aelita's bedside, nearly shaking with rage. On the nightstand by the bed sat and empty, glass vase. "DAMMIT!" He shouted; swinging his arm at the vase and watching it shatter onto the floor.

"Wow… someone's got anger problems." Odd stood in the door way nonchalantly with his hands relaxed in his pockets. Jeremie turned to him and glared.

"What are you doing here," he coldly snapped, quickly turning his back to him and shooting the cold shoulder. He stared at the million bits of crystal clear glass scattered across the floor.

"I wanted to talk to you…"

"Well I don't want to talk to you."

"Look, Jeremie, I'm _really_ sorry! Honestly! Please, just let me…"

"No."

"But, Jeremie!"

"Get out, Odd."

"But Jeremie, I want to help Aelita, too! She's my friend, too! I'M A LYOKO WARRIOR, JEREMIE!"

"I said get out."

"Jeremie, _please…"_

"Leave."

Odd clenched his fists inside of his pockets. "WOULD YOU SHUT THE _FUCK _UP AND LET ME TALK FOR _ONE_ MINUTE?" Jeremie's attention had been caught, and he slowly turned to face Odd. "Listen, Jeremie, I'm not as stupid as you all think I am. Did you ever, oh, I don't know, maybe think that HER BODY IS STILL LINKED WITH HER MIND?" Jeremie's eyes widened and his brows rose so highly that his forehead became a mass of wrinkles.

"What did you just say?"

"Aelita is in a coma. We don't know why. But we know it happened on Lyoko somehow. What if Aelita's body is still linked with her mind? Her body is here on Earth, but what if her _mind_ is on Lyoko? We get her out of here, scan her, and see what happens."

"Odd…"

"Yeah?"

Jeremie ran up to Odd and hugged him so tightly that Odd's face started to match the rest of his outfit. "YOU ARE A GENIUS!"

"Th..that's great…but…you're…crushing me!"

Jeremie let go of his hold on Odd. Odd pulled at his shirt collar, gasping for air. "Odd…"

"What?"

"There's something I need to show you." Jeremie walked over to his bag and pulled out his laptop.

"What is it?"

"Here, listen." Jeremie played the audio tape that Franz had sent him. Odd listened in astonishment, raising his view to Jeremie's after the tape was finished.

"So… I was right, then?"

"Look at this, Odd." Jeremie held up his wrist that had the coordinates listed.

"What's that?"

"It's where Franz Hopper is waiting for us."


	13. Mission

**(Just in case anyone was wondering, William isn't in this story because when I started writing this I hadn't seen CL in so long that I didn't even know who William was. I'm all caught up now, but, let's just pretend he doesn't exist xP)**__

"I think I like night time a lot better than the day time," Aelita giggled. She and Jeremie strolled along the sidewalk hand-in-hand.

"_Yeah, everything's quiet and peaceful…and the plants breathe differently, too." _Jeremie leaned down to pick a daisy from a nearby bush, and handed it to Aelita. _"Here, smell this." _Aelita obeyed, lifting the delicate flower up to her nose and inhaling deeply. She smiled at the pleasant scent.

"_Mmm," _she purred. Aelita leaned over and pecked Jeremie on the cheek, feeling his face flush and grow warm against her lips. The two joined their hands again, and continued to walk down the road. Aelita stared around her in wonderment, taking in all of the sights, sounds and smells. It overwhelmed her, but she wanted to explore more. _"Everything is so beautiful at night… I love the way everything faintly glows yellow from all of the street lights."_

"_Hmm… I can think of something more beautiful than that, though." _Jeremie beamed at Aelita, watching her cheekbones redden. The midnight blue clouds above briefly flashed, illuminating the entire sky. A gentle rumble rolled across the atmosphere shortly after.

"_What was that?" _Aelita stared up at the sky, looking to see where the sound at come from. _"Is it a XANA attack?!"_

Jeremie chuckled at her naiveté. _"No, Aelita. It's called thunder. That means it's going to storm, soon, so we should start heading back."_

"_Oh, but Jeremie! I don't want to go yet. Can we stay out a little longer, pleeeassee?"_

"_Well...I uh…oh, alright." _It was impossible for Jeremie to say no to Aelita. Eagerly, she grabbed his hand and tugged him along as she ran across the street and into the park. Once again, thunder boomed throughout the night and the clouds flashed white. A single, cold raindrop fell onto the tip of Aelita's nose.

"_Oh!" _She piped, brushing her pointer and middle finger against her nose. Another drop soon fell onto Jeremie's cheek, making him aware of why Aelita had yelped.

"_That was a raindrop, Aelita."_

"_I like the way it felt."_

A crack of lighting spread across the sky, lighting up the Earth below. The speed of the rain picked up, until soon it was hammering down. Jeremie and Aelita stared up at the sky, watching the beautiful flashes of purple, white and blue. The gentle roars of the thunder became music to their ears. Aelita held out her hands, trying to catch the rain. The drops pitter-pattered against her tiny palms. She smiled and laughed, and Jeremie soon joined in with her. They spun each other around, dancing to the music of the storm, letting the pouring rain drench every inch of them. Their clothes started to cling to their skin, and their hair had become stringy and stuck to the corners of their faces. Aelita was thrilled; she stuck out her tongue attempting to catch the rain drops in her mouth.

"_I wish it would storm every day!" _Aelita squealed, running through the soaking wet grass. Her boots squished against the soft Earth with each step she took. A large splash followed, with a few drops springing up into Aelita's face. She looked down and saw her feet engulfed in a puddle. _"Jeremie, why is all of the water collecting here?"_

"_That's a puddle, Aelita. The ground is probably uneven here, so it's like a little pocket that the rain is collecting in." _Aelita giggled and jumped into the puddle, with the murky water splashing against Jeremie's already sopping wet khaki's. Jeremie took Aelita's hands into hers, smiling at her while watching the drops hastily travel down her face, falling off of the tip of her nose. _"Aelita…" _he started.

"_Yes, Jeremie?"_

"_You know, I uh…" _Aelita looked upon Jeremie inquisitively; he looked as if he was plotting something, but at the same time hesitating to do so.

"_You what, Jeremie?" _

Jeremie nervously smiled at Aelita, brushing his fingertips against her wet cheeks. Aelita appeared a bit surprised, touching her petite hand against his. Jeremie moved his hand down by her neck, gently holding the side of her head steady, and leaned in towards her. They gazed into each other's eyes for a moment, before Jeremie dove in and locked his lips against hers. Although taken aback at first, she quickly relaxed her body and closed her eyes, leaning into him. She kissed him back, and wrapped her arms around his neck. The rain slid between their face and touched their lips as they kissed, giving a slightly salty taste to the sensation. Jeremie placed his hands on her waist and pulled her closer to him. They both smiled against each other's pressed lips.

Jeremie was yanked out of his sleep by his alarm. He quickly turned it off to avoid waking up the entire floor, as it was only 3 o'clock. He rolled over and groaned, upset that he had to awaken so early on the one night he had a good dream. But, it had to be done. He slid out of bed and grabbed his signature blue turtleneck and brown khakis out of his closet, quickly changing into them. He searched under his bed for his shoes, inserting his feet into them. He grabbed his cellphone and dialed Yumi's number while sneaking out of his room and walking down the hall.

"Yumi," he spoke ever so softly into the phones speaker. "Are you awake?" On the other side of the line, a very groggy Yumi reluctantly agreed to his question. Satisfied with her answer, Jeremie hung up and ran down to Ulrich and Odd's dorm. He tapped gently and whispered to them. "Ulrich? Odd? Are you guys awake yet?" There was no answer. Jeremie looked down at the crack beneath the door to see that there was no light peeking through, meaning that they were probably still asleep. Jeremie attempted to turn the handle, which quickly produced a clicking sound that let Jeremie know the door was unlocked. He slipped in and was greeted by the sight of Odd snoring loudly while tangled up in his blankets, and Ulrich passed out in the corner of his bed with his pillow wrapped around his head. Jeremie sighed and yanked Odd's pillow out from underneath him, whacking him across the head with it. He quickly jumped out of bed, yelping.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"It's time to get up!"

"But Jeremie, it's 3 in the morning!"

"Did you forget about our little mission?" Jeremie walked over to Ulrich's bed while Odd sat on the edge of his, scratching his head and attempting to remember the reason he had to get up at 3 A.M. Jeremie whacked Ulrich across the face with the pillow, watching him fearfully jolt out of bed.

"Oh, hi Jeremie… time to get up already?"

"You guys are so lame," he said. "Get dressed and let's go!"

"What are we doing again?" Odd asked.

"We're going to get Aelita… this was _your_ idea, Odd. I can't believe you don't remember!"

"Oh, right, hehe."

Ulrich slipped on his jacket and tied up his shoes, while Odd still scrambled around trying to find his clothing. He threw on his purple bell-bottoms but couldn't locate his shirt, so he gave up and threw his hoodie on over his pajama shirt. The three then slipped out of the room and snuck out of Kadic, taking caution to make sure that Jim wasn't waiting around any corners. Jeremie had brought their skateboards and scooters up from the sewer and left them by a tree so that the journey to the hospital would be quicker. They each grabbed their desired method of transportation and dashed out of the gates of Kadic, off to the hospital.

"Took you guys long enough," Yumi said as she was greeted by the rest of the Lyoko warriors.

"It's not exactly a walk in the park to get here," Ulrich remarked. They left their skateboards and scooter leaned against the bike rack and walked up to the doors, quickly finding out they were locked.

"Well, now what?" Odd asked.

"Easy," Yumi confidently replied while pulling a bobby pin out of her pocket. She leaned against the door and inserted the bobby pin in the lock, biting her tongue while heavily focusing on the task at hand. After a minute or two, the door successfully clicked open. "Bingo," she said, leading the way into the hospital.

"Impressive," Ulrich responded as he and the others snuck inside. Straight ahead of them was a security guard leaning against the receptionist's desk. They quickly cornered themselves against a nearby wall that acted as somewhat of a divider from the waiting room, out of the guard's view.

"Okay, I repeat myself. Now what?" Odd poked his head out slightly past the wall, eyeing the security guard. He didn't seem to be paying much attention. Jeremie looked across the hall and saw a door that looked rather unimportant. He nudged towards it.

"There," he whispered.

"How do you expect us to get over there without getting caught by the guard?" Ulrich asked.

"I've got an idea," Yumi mumbled. "I've done it before, so I can do it again. When I say go, you guys dash over there, okay?"

"Umm, okay," they responded.

"Okay…" Yumi looked around the corner of the wall, taking note of the guard. She nodded at the others and stumbled out into the waiting room with her arms extended in front of her, staring blankly at her surroundings as if she were blind. She started feeling up a couch, and then a plant and so on, while Odd, Ulrich and Jeremie ran across the hall and to the door. The guard took note of Yumi and her actions.

"Hey, you there," he shouted. "What are you doing?"

"Huh? Who is that?" Yumi replied.

"Oh…are, are you lost?"

"I'm looking for my room… uhh… it's uh… 9262!"

"Well, come along then, I'll help you there."

Jeremie held open the door, rushing Odd and Ulrich inside before stepping into the dark room himself and closing the door. A motion detected light flipped on as the door was closed, revealing them to be inside a janitor closet.

"Okay, Einstein… how are we going to get to Aelita from here?" Ulrich looked around the room aimlessly. Jeremie looked above him, observing a decently sized overhead vent. He then looked back at Ulrich.

"You're kidding…"

"It's the only way."

"Okay," Odd said, scratching his chin. "But, we'll need a boost… Ulrich, you're the tallest."

Ulrich nodded and stood directly beneath the vent, bending down so someone could jump onto his back. "Okay, who's first?"

Odd walked over and jumped onto Ulrich's back, and Ulrich raised his posture completely straight so Odd could reach the vent. It was close, but not close enough. Odd strained his scrawny arms trying to grab at the vent, but to no avail.

"I can't reach it!"

"Here," Jeremie said, kicking a two-step stool over in front of Ulrich. Ulrich stepped onto the stool with Odd on his back; giving him enough of a height increase for Odd to successfully remove the vents cover and drop it onto the floor. It clashed loudly against the concrete floor of the janitor's closet and echoed off of the walls. "Watch it, Odd! You want us to get caught?"

Odd clung onto the edges of the vent and hoisted himself up, placing his feet on Ulrich's shoulders and giving himself enough leverage to jump up into the vent. He poked his head out and waved at the others.

"Come on, Jeremie! Your turn!"

Ulrich stepped off of the stool so that Jeremie could jump onto his back, and then repeated the same process over again. Once the two were both successfully inside the vent's corridor, Ulrich stared up at them and said, "Okay, now… How am _I _supposed to get up there?"

They each held out a hand. "Jump!"

Ulrich jumped off of the stool as high as he could, quickly being grabbed onto by the little hands of Jeremie and Odd. They pulled up with all of their might to drag him into the vent.

"Phew," Jeremie said, wiping his forehead. "Okay… this way." The three crawled off into the darkness of the vent.

"How are we supposed to know which one of the vent grates is in Aelita's room?" Ulrich asked.

"Just guess and check."

"Man, it stinks up here," Odd complained whilst holding his nose.

"Better than the sewer, isn't it? Hey, here's a vent. Maybe this one goes to Aelita's room."

The three crowded around the opening and peeked through the railing.

"Nope," Odd said. They continued moving.

"This one?"

"Nope…"

"Hey there's one over here!"

"Not this one either."

"Nope…"

The same pattern continued for over fifteen minutes, until finally they found it. Through the small holes in the vent's cover, Jeremie could see his beautiful angel peacefully sleeping in her bed.

"Here!" Jeremie joyfully shouted. He waved the others on, hurrying them to crawl down to his side. Jeremie carefully removed the vent cover, placing it to the side.

"So… how are we supposed to get down from here?" Odd inquired. Jeremie smiled at Odd, and sat on the edge of the vent opening, letting his legs dangle down. He then pushed himself off of the edge and landed on his feet.

"Oh, boy…"

"Come on guys, what are you waiting for?" Yumi appeared from the darkness of the corner of the room.

"Yumi!" Ulrich shouted as he jumped down from the hole in ceiling. "How'd you get here?"

"I played blind and had the guard lead me to here. Told him it was my room. Worked like a charm," Yumi winked.

Shortly after, Odd came tumbling out of the vent, landing on his butt. "Ouch!" he yelped, rubbing his aching tailbone.

"Okay." Jeremie walked over to Aelita's beside and removed the clip from her finger that registered her pulse onto the heart monitor, ensuing complete silence in the room. "Now, how can we get her out of here?"

"We can put her in here." Yumi rolled a wheelchair that was sitting in the corner up to Aelita's beside. Odd kept watch at the door, while Jeremie oh so gently lifted Aelita's fragile body up into his arms, placing her into the wheelchair. Her unconscious body immediately slumped over.

"Uhh… we're going to have to do something about that," Ulrich noted. Suddenly, the door handle begun to turn. The Lyoko warriors' heads immediately snapped towards the door, and their bodies became frozen with fear. They all stared at the door slowly open, watching with horrified expressions.

"Caught red handed!" Odd screamed, hiding his face in his palms.

The man walked in the room, staring at the children that had broken into the hospital and were attempting to kidnap the patient. He said not a single word, and walked over to the wheelchair, placing his hands on it's rubber handles.

"Hey, wait a minute…" Jeremie instantly recognized the man as the same doctor from the first night Aelita was in the hospital. "You're that Dr. Hopper!"

"You didn't expect to get her out of here yourself, did you?"

"Uh, Jeremie, care to explain?" Yumi asked.

"This is Dr. Hopper. He must be controlled by Franz Hopper himself… Franz Hopper wants to help us get Aelita to the scanners! Let's go!"

"No," Dr. Hopper harshly said. "You can't follow me out of this room; you'll be caught for sure. Go the way you came and meet me out in the lobby, past the security guard. I'll help you back into the vent. The four looked at each other slightly confused, but obeyed, being pushed up into the vent one by one. They hurried through the musty cavity, reaching their starting point in the janitor's closet in no time at all and quickly jumped to the ground. Jeremie opened the door slightly and peeked through the crack.

"I don't see him…"

"Oh, no! Jeremie, look!" Yumi pushed the door open further and frantically pointed towards the glass windows, where they could all see the doctor outside, running away with Aelita in his arms. The wheel chair had been left in the corner of the lobby.

"But… what is Franz doing? He said he would meet us here!"

The laptop inside Jeremie's back pack began to whirr and beep.

"Jeremie… that wasn't Franz Hopper."


	14. Visions

"AFTER HIM!"

The four frantically burst through the glass doors as they watched the XANA possessed doctor run down the street, fading away into the darkness of the night. They each grabbed their skateboard, while Jeremie grabbed his scooter, and sped off in a futile attempt to catch up with the enemy. It was hopeless, he quickly disappeared out of their sight and once they reached a fork in the road they had no idea where to turn. He was too fast.

"What do we do now? We'll never catch up to him!" Odd cried out. Yumi look around the street, desperately scanning the area for something that would give her a clue. There was a car parked on the wrong side of the road underneath a clearly labeled no parking sign.

"There," she pointed. The other's looked at her, baffled.

"Where?" Ulrich asked. Yumi ran to the car and threw her elbow into the window, busting open the glass. The car's horn began to beep incessantly, with the headlights flickering to no end. She slipped her arm inside and unlocked the door. The rest of the gang stared until she yelled at them to come on. They all ran to the car and climbed inside, buckling their seatbelts.

"Uhm, Yumi, how do you plan on starting this car?" Jeremie mockingly asked her.

"Push to start button," she smugly replied as she pressed the engine start button. The car revved up and the alarm fell silent. "It's parked on the wrong side of the road. The owner will think it was towed if they see it's missing. Besides, a return to the past will fix the damage."

"Yumi…" Odd started. "Do you even know how to DRI- WOAH!" His sentence was quickly cut off as she put the car into drive and slammed her foot on the accelerator, speeding off into the distance. The car nearly toppled over with each sharp turn from the inexperienced driver, but within no time they were at the factory.

"Look!" Ulrich pointed up at the bridge as he stepped out of the car, singling out the silhouette of XANA's possession carrying Aelita.

"But what is he planning?" Jeremie wondered out loud.

"No time to find out!" Ulrich started off towards the bridge, with the others quickly following.

"_Jeremie…"_

Jeremie stopped in the middle of the bridge, staring blankly.

"_Help me, Jeremie!"_

"Jeremie, what are you…"

Jeremie harshly shushed Odd, staring coldly into the depths of the factory's entrance. "It's Aelita."

"Oh, great, he's hearing voices again!" Ulrich mocked, placing his hands on his head.

"_Don't let him take me into the scanner!"_

Jeremie's eyes widened. "Come on," he ordered. "We can't let her get into the scanner!"

"Why not?" Yumi asked.

"I don't know, but whatever the reason it can't be good! Let's go!"

At the edge of the entrance where a staircase once lied, the possessed man could be seen running to the elevator. Without even grabbing onto the rope, Odd jumped off and tumbled down onto the doctor.

"BONSAI!"

"Nice one, Odd." Ulrich and the others slid down the ropes and met Odd at the elevator.

"Grab Aelita and head to the lab, find out what XANA is up to," he ordered. "I'll handle this guy." Ulrich swooped Aelita up and over his shoulders and hurried into the elevator with Jeremie and Yumi, while Odd positioned himself in front of the rising man, ready for battle. They could hear him screaming bonsai again as the elevator lowered them to the lab.

"Okay," Jeremie sat in the computer chair and booted up Lyoko, reading into the coordinates and data. While Jeremie searched, Ulrich gently set Aelita down onto the floor and sat with her. Jeremie's jaw dropped. "Oh, no…"

"What is it?" Yumi asked.

"Oh, no… Oh, no!"

"What?!"

"If Aelita gets put in the scanner and gets virtualized… she'll disappear forever!"

Ulrich and Yumi gasped.

"But, why would XANA want her to disappear? Doesn't he need her as much as we do?" Yumi cried out.

"Yes… and if she is virtualized onto Lyoko in her current state, she'll become a permanent prisoner of XANA. He'll be able to do anything he wants. There will be no way to materialize her back!"

"How are we supposed to deactivate the tower?" A frantic Ulrich desperately gasped.

"I… I don't know!"

"AAAAHHHH!"

A badly bruised Odd came toppling down the ladder, rolling over by Jeremie's side before passing out. Jeremie looked down at him and gasped, before looking over at Aelita, and then looking back at the ladder to see XANA's coy climbing down.

"PROTECT AELITA! GET HER OUT OF HERE!"

Yumi obeyed and grabbed Aelita, running out of the room. Ulrich went to join Jeremie by his side. One small kick from the possessed doctor, and Ulrich was thrown violently against the wall.

"Ulrich!"

The man expelled a horrific and distorted cackle while towering over Jeremie, lifting him up by his shirt collar and flinging him across the room. Jeremie slammed harshly against the metal walls, breaking his wrist. He cried out in pain next to a delirious Ulrich and watched the man start off to find Yumi and Aelita.

"AELITA!" He cried, jumping up and running to grab the first thing he saw. That object happened to be his laptop, and even with an injured wrist, he snuck up behind the man and thwacked his laptop against his skull as hard as he possibly could. It rendered the doctor unconscious, albeit only temporarily as he was far too powerful while under XANA's control.

"_Jeremie!"_

"Aelita! I don't know what to do!" Jeremie became frantic, dropping to his knees and pulling at his hair.

"_Jeremie, HELP ME!" _The ghostly voice became hysterical, which stabbed at Jeremie's heart. There was nothing he could do. She could cry all she wanted, but Jeremie could not save her.

"I can't! I CAN'T! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Jeremie started to sob into his hands, feeling as if he had become nothing but a failure. He was stuck. XANA was going to get what he wanted.

"Why are you so down? The fight isn't over, yet."

Jeremie looked up with tearful eyes to see who had spoken to him in his state of despair. To his surprise, Franz Hopper was looming over him, surrounded by a glowing white aura that gave him the image of a God. Jeremie was shocked, but also reluctant. He reached out to touch Franz's leg, only to have his scrawny arm go straight through it. A spectre. This was the real Franz Hopper, creating a spectre of himself in the real world to help Jeremie out. Jeremie uttered not a word, and stared in awe as the clone of Hopper walked over to the computer and manually deactivated the tower. Just like that, he disintegrated. He was gone as quickly as he came. Jeremie turned around to see that the XANA possessed man had also disappeared, meaning he was a spectre as well. A very good spectre, he seemed so real… that only meant that XANA was getting stronger. Jeremie drug himself over to the computer and launched a return to the past with his one good hand.

"Return to the past, now."

"You know, it's kind of a good thing XANA came in… if he hadn't, we wouldn't have known that virtualizing Aelita would have made her disappear forever." Odd sat on Jeremie's bed, petting Kiwi. Jeremie sat cross legged in the chair with two fully functional wrists again. The return to the past reversed any physical damage. Aelita was back in her hospital bed, and Ulrich and Yumi were sitting next to each other on the floor.

"Well, we know we can't scan her, so… what do we do, now?" Ulrich asked, twiddling his thumbs. Jeremie looked up, with his index finger and thumb brushing towards one another on his chin.

"Every time Franz Hopper does something like that to help us out in the real world, he slowly drains his energy on Lyoko. Once he runs out of energy, he's gone for good… we'll have to go to Sector 5 tonight and find him with the coordinates Aelita led me to. I don't know why he wants us there, but there's only one way to find out."

The others nodded in agreement. Yumi, however, caught onto what Jeremie had just said, shooting him a confused look.

"Wait, did you just say the coordinates Aelita led you to?"

"Well, I said you guys wouldn't believe me if I told you what happened that night."

"Jeremie…" Ulrich stood up. "You're literally losing it. How long have you been having these hallucinations?"

"Umm… three weeks."

"Jeremie!" The three all cried out.

"That's not healthy; you need to get some help!" Yumi demanded.

"Hey, if it weren't for the hallucinations, I wouldn't be anywhere near close to finding out how to save Aelita! Besides, I wouldn't call them hallucinations. I don't know how, but wherever Aelita is, she's reaching out to me."

"Jeremie, what if they are just hallucinations?" Yumi became serious. "What if everything you're telling us about, the coordinates, Franz Hopper, not being able to scan Aelita, all of that; is just in your head?

"But, I…"

"Jeremie," Ulrich took a turn at speaking. "When is the last time you even slept?"

"A couple of days…"

"Jeremie!" Once again, all three at once screamed.

"What! I can't sleep longer than an hour or two anyway because of my night terrors, what's the point anyway? I've got too much work to do to sleep."

"This needs to end, now."

"Hey, Yumi? Where are you going?"

Odd and Ulrich quickly followed Yumi out of the door, shutting it behind them. Jeremie sat in his chair, staring at the now closed door. He was slightly afraid of where his friends had suddenly vanished off to.

"Odd?" He called out, his eyes still fixed on the door.

"…Yumi?"

Jeremie got out of his chair and opened the door, walking down the hall to Odd and Ulrich's dorm. He didn't know why, but he was suddenly overwhelmed with fear and nervousness. Butterflies bounced among the walls of his stomach. He helped himself inside to see Ulrich listening to music, and Odd drawing something.

"Hey Einstein," Ulrich cheerfully greeted. "What's up?"

Jeremie raised an eyebrow and gaped at Ulrich. "What? But you were just… aren't you mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad?"

"You were just in my room freaking out on me for losing my mind!"

Ulrich took out his earphones and sat up on his bed, carefully observing Jeremie. "Are you okay, Jeremie?

"Um… yeah, I'm fine." Jeremie rubbed the side of his head, feeling a slight headache coming on. "So, you guys ready for tonight?"

"What's tonight?" Odd piped up, turning his attention away from his doodle of Kiwi.

"Umm… going to Sector 5?"

"Why?"

"Hey, guys!" Yumi walked in the room, happily waving at her friends.

"Yumi, did you know anything about going to Sector 5 tonight?" Ulrich asked.

"Huh? No, why?"

"But!" Jeremie yelped, tugging at his frizzy blonde strands of hair. "The coordinates I found! In the bathroom!"

"What coordinates, Jeremie?"

"The tape? Franz Hopper? Don't you remember ANYTHING?"

"Woah, Jeremie…" Yumi walked over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Calm down..."

"BUT WE HAVE TO HELP AELITA!"

"What do I need help with?" Aelita curiously asked as she joined the others in Ulrich and Odd's dorm. Jeremie dropped to his knees and screamed.

"Wake up, Einstein!" Ulrich loudly whispered as he shook Jeremie awake. Jeremie shot up in bed, startled at the sight of his friends crowded around him.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Um, Jeremie… we're supposed to go get Aelita from the hospital tonight, remember?"

Jeremie's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened.

"No."

"What?" The three softly exclaimed. "Why?"

"We can't. We can't scan Aelita. If we do, she'll disappear into Lyoko forever and XANA can do whatever he wants with her."

"Where did you get that idea, Einstein? Did you just have a bad dream?" Odd asked, placing his hand on Jeremie's forehead to see if he had a fever of any sort. Jeremie swapped his hand away.

"It wasn't a dream, Odd… It was a vision."


	15. A New Program

Jeremie was having visions now. Or at least, what he told himself were visions. His friends grew increasingly worried about his health and mental state. From the looks of it, Jeremie couldn't tell what was and wasn't real. The night that Jeremie and friends' plans to Kidnap Aelita's lifeless body were foiled, they headed straight to the factory to be virtualized into the coordinates of Sector 5 that Jeremie had discovered. Odd, Ulrich and Yumi were reluctant that the coordinates even meant anything, convinced they were just a figment of his rapidly deteriorating frame of mind. Nonetheless, they obeyed his requests to head to Sector 5 right then and there, regardless of the fact there was a science exam the following day.

The four preteens dashed through the cold, midnight wind and across the bridge to the factory. Their footsteps against the hard concrete echoed throughout the darkness. They jumped off of the staircase ruins, gliding own the hanging cables. Jeremie got himself comfortable in his laboratory chair, preparing the scanners, as the others took the trip down to the scanner room. Jeremie began the transfer process.

"Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, Odd. Transfer, Ulrich."

The scanner doors shut, encasing the Lyoko warriors. They relaxed their bodies as a burst of air shot from the scanner's floor and gently lifted them into the air.

"Scanner, Yumi. Scanner, Odd. Scanner, Ulrich."

Light surrounded each of them, twirling them around inside of the complex machines.

"Virtualization!"

Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich dropped down to the solid, icy ground of the Polar Region.

"Okay, you know the drill," Jeremie voiced down to the trio. "Get to the edge of the sector!"

Jeremie programmed the vehicles. Each one jumped onto their designated vehicle, hurrying off to the end of the sector.

"Well? Where is the welcoming committee?" Yumi flew around on her overwing, scanning the area for monsters or any sign of a XANA trap. Nothing.

"Unbelievable, we come all this way to visit them and don't even get a hello?" Odd joked as he surfed around on his overboard. Soon enough, they reached the end of the sector. So far there had been no ploy of XANA to intervene.

Ulrich took the first steps towards the Ice Sector's edge. "We're ready, Jeremie."

"Okay. I'm entering the Code: SCIPIO."

The transporter quickly emerged from around the corner and engulfed the trio, carrying them off to Sector 5 and dropping them off on the platform.

"Holosphere system, on."

"Ohhh," Odd groaned, rubbing his stomach. "Hey Jer, you should really figure out a way to virtualize us directly into Sector 5. I'm kind of getting tired of the motion sickness."

"If only it were that simple," Jeremie replied. "The countdown has been activated. You've got three minutes!"

"We're on it Jeremie," Ulrich reassured while taking the lead through the wall of Sector 5 as it opened up.

"I've located the key directly above you, Yumi."

Yumi stared above her head, exasperated. It was _all _the way at the very top. "That looks like a job for a cat…"

Upon hearing the comment, Odd sprouted straight up, saluting Yumi. "Sir, yes sir!" he said as he sprinted up the walls of Sector 5. Ulrich and Yumi stared in awe as the giant purple cat pounced across the zig-zag pattern of the floating blocks. The whirring sound of a laser powering up caught Ulrich by surprise, followed by the sharp pain of his virtual arm buzzing and sparking from being hit.

"Creepers!" Yumi cried out. She turned around and removed her fans from behind her as she became surrounded by four different creepers. They started simultaneously firing their lasers at her before Ulrich lashed in front of her, reflecting the shots off of his saber. Yumi threw her fans and knocked out one of the creepers, but the other three successfully dodged and thrived.

"Odd, you've only got a minute left!"

"I'm doing all I can, Jeremie!"

"Triplicate!" Ulrich and his clones surrounded the three remaining creepers, whom were now very confused. The Ulrich trio began to run around the creeper army, causing the baffled creatures to fire at random. Two of the clones were knocked out, but as the second creeper stared at Ulrich perplexed as to why he wasn't killed off yet, Ulrich stabbed his saber into the target on its head. Yumi took advantage of the delirious state of the third creeper and threw her fans again, knocking it out.

"Hey," Yumi said, puzzled. "Where did the other monster go?"

The other creeper had disappeared. Ulrich and Yumi searched their surroundings but couldn't find him.

"I guess he chickened out…" Ulrich stared up at the seemingly endless ceiling of Sector 5 and shouted upwards towards Odd. "Hey, Odd! How are you doing?"

"Almost there!" Odd landed onto the final block floating in front of the Key. It was a long jump from the edge to the Key. He only had one shot. Odd got on all fours and prepared himself for a pounce, narrowing his eyes to target the Key. Just as he leaped off of the platform's edge, the missing creeper snuck up from behind and shot Odd.

"ODD!" Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremie cried out.

Odd started to devirtualize in mid-air. He began disintegrating into tiny blue pixels, rapidly materializing from his feet on up. Odd acted fast and with all of his might threw his paw against the Key just before the pixels reached his upper body and he fragmented completely. The countdown on the screen stopped.

"Phew!" Jeremie exhaled deeply and wiped away beads of sweat lingering on his forehead. "Okay, Odd is down, but I've entered the coordinates. Franz Hopper should be located North Northeast of your current position." Odd came climbing down the ladder from the scanner room, greeting Jeremie by his side. Jeremie gave Odd an appropriate thumbs up for his success at stopping the countdown.

"We're on our way, Jeremie." Yumi and Ulrich sped off in the direction provided by the boy genius. They ran for several minutes straight, panting heavily as they ran out of breath and turned corner from corner over and over again. Ulrich finally stopped in the middle of the blue maze, bending over as he gasped for breath.

"Yumi, I'm pretty sure we've already been here. More than once."

"You're right… quick, let's go this way!"

"We've been here, too!"

"I remember seeing this area, too…"

"We're right back where we started!"

"Yumi! Ulrich!" Jeremie screamed. "What is taking you guys so long?"

"Jeremie… we've got a problem," Ulrich said.

"We're stuck in a labyrinth!"

Jeremie leaned back and groaned, as if he were annoyed with his friends for getting stuck in an endless maze. He loaded up the map and located them.

"Okay," he said. "I've located you guys. You'll need to take a left where you are now, and then another left three times in a row. Make sure you take a right the fourth time, and then after that go straight and you're out."

The two obeyed his orders and successfully made it out of the labyrinth, reaching the appropriate coordinates. They looked around for a good minute or two, before sighing in disappointment.

"Jeremie… there's nothing here."

"Huh? But… but I can see it on my screen! A white triangle! The triangle has to be Franz!"

"Jeremie," Yumi said. "I don't see him anywhere. There's nothing here but giant blue blocks."

Jeremie hung his head, exhaling in frustration. Another failed attempt at saving Aelita.

"Wait!" Ulrich jumped. "Did you hear that?"

The faint sound of shots firing and lasers whirring rebounded in the distance.

"Yeah…" Yumi replied, cupping her hand behind one of her ears. "It's… it's coming from over there! Let's go!"

There was a large, blue wall that acted as somewhat of a divider of the room they were in. Sneaking through a small gap in the divider, Ulrich and Yumi were greeted by the shock of a lifetime.

"Uh oh…" Ulrich said, staring blankly.

"I think we found all of those monsters that I was wondering about earlier…"

In front of Ulrich and Yumi was a small, white orb, glowing immensely. It's aura was so bright that it almost blinded the two. However, there was a humongous ring of XANA's monsters also surrounding the orb. Bloks, Krabs, Kankrelots, Mantas, Hornets, and Creepers. They all crowded around the orb firing at their fullest levels of power.

"Jer…Jeremie! There's gotta be at least thirty monsters here!"

"I know, I see them on my screen."

"But, they're surrounding some sort of orb?"

"Protect it! That orb is… Franz Hopper!"

Immediately, Yumi and Ulrich armed themselves and began launching at the monsters. Fans spiraled across the room and sliced through enemies, while Ulrich clones were bouncing off of the walls and super sprinting off of the monsters as the blade impacted the target. Even with their best efforts, the monsters remained strong and not enough were being defeated to do any good.

"Guys, quit screwing around!" Jeremie said over intercom. "Franz is sending me some important data! I'll lose all of it if you let those monsters destroy him!"

"Jeremie, we're doing our best!" Yumi pleaded, defending herself and Ulrich.

"Well, DO BETTER!"

"Sheesh," Ulrich slightly winced at Jeremie's demands. "Have you noticed that Jeremie has been a real jerk late- AHH!" A Megatank had slyly rolled up behind Ulrich, knocking him off of the edge of Sector 5 as its massive laser fired at him.

"Ulrich!" Yumi cried, reaching over the edge towards Ulrich. Ulrich devirtualized in mid-air. She flung herself at the enemies, throwing her fans left and right in a dire attempt to avenge Ulrich. Without warning, the glowing aura around the virtual Franz Hopper began to expand until the entire orb imploded. "Jeremie!" she screamed, standing aback completely stunned. "Did… did Franz Hopper just..."

"No, it's okay Yumi. I got the data I needed. He fled to protect himself now that we no longer need him. I'll bring you back home now."

Ulrich and Odd stood by Jeremie's side, leaning against the heavily cushioned computer chair. Yumi quickly lowered herself down the ladder from the scanner room, rushing over to the others. They all appeared both eager and anxious.

"Well?" Yumi probed as she walked over to the computer's interface, curious as to what the trip to Sector 5 had brought them. Jeremie leaned back in the chair and clasped his hands together, pressing them against his nose and lips.

"The data Franz Hopper sent me will help me put together a program," Jeremie stalely announced.

"What kind of program?"

"A program that will help us locate Aelita's wandering self on Lyoko." He did not seem very enthusiastic about the huge step they all had just taken in recovering Aelita.

"Well, that's great!" Yumi squealed, pumping her fist into the air. The others looked over at her without displaying much emotion. "What? What's wrong? Is… is there a catch?"

Odd and Ulrich solemnly nodded.

"The program will deactivate the superscanner. We will have no way to tell if XANA is attacking. And… who knows what kind of scheme he'll come up with to stop our plan. He could ruin everything; we might even lose Aelita… forever."

"Well…" Yumi started, cupping her chin with her thumb and pointer finger. "We better act fast, then."

"You're right," Jeremie muttered. He looked up at his three friends. "Twelve o'clock tonight, then."

"Midnight?!" The three cried out.

"But, what about the science exam?"

"What about it," Jeremie scolded. "I think saving our best friend is more important than some dumb exam.

"Easy for you to say, Einstein! Everything comes naturally to you but what about the rest of us?" Odd retaliated. Jeremie scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he said. "I'll do a return trip just for you when we're done, so you can still do your exam."

"Alright," Ulrich nodded. "See you at twelve, then. We've gotta get to supper. You coming?"

"No, not hungry. I'm going to stay here and work on the program more." Not surprised by Jeremie's usual excuse to avoid eating, they all headed off to Kadic, leaving the boy Einstein behind.

"_Jeremie…" _

Once again, the soft cooing of Aelita's voice wisped into Jeremie ears. He brushed his fingertips against the screen in front of him, as if in doing so he was touching Aelita's face.

"I'm coming, Aelita."


	16. Kiwi

**Just a short filler chapter to add some more drama and suspense. I wanted to make this longer, but decided that it would ruin the flow if I did, so I'm leaving it as is. I'll continue the first date fluff interludes in the next chapter. Also, I just added a oneshot titled "Consumption" that I wrote for fun. If you've seen the movie Moulin Rouge, the story should sound very familiar. I'd love if you guys would check it out and review while waiting for the next chapter of Comatose! :)**

"_A date?" _Aelita cocked her head to one side, her beautiful green eyes staring at Jeremie.

"_It's when a boy takes a girl that he really likes out somewhere for a night. They can do things like get ice cream, see a movie, have dinner…" _Jeremie stared upon his pink-haired angel, observing her playful expressions of curiosity and bewilderment. She was like a small child, always wanting to explore the world further. Aelita was incredibly intelligent, but at the same time, so naïve and uneducated. _"I'll come by your dorm at seven, does that sound good?" _Aelita eagerly nodded her head. Jeremie smiled and gave her a farewell kiss on the forehead while nuzzling his nose into her scalp; smelling the fragrant, fruity scent of her silky, pink hair. He did this every chance he got. The smell of Aelita's shampoo would linger for an entire day until she took her next shower, only regenerating and strengthening the amorous fragrance. It had quickly become Jeremie's favorite smell out of any other delicious odor in the entire world.

"_A date…" _Aelita walked away, giggling to herself. _"I'm going on a date! I wonder what kinds of wonderful things we could possibly do!" _

Tap, tap, tap. Jeremie's fingers danced amongst his keyboard as he slaved through the night, searching for Aelita's wandering soul. After extensive research on the data Franz had delivered, Jeremie discovered that sending the warriors to Lyoko wouldn't do anything. Aelita had essentially morphed into Lyoko, and could not physically be seen, nor could any of the gang bring her back to Earth by themselves. And as such, he immediately called everyone to cancel the arrangements for tonight. They were all relieved, of course. Now the stress of not getting enough sleep for the science exam had been tossed aside. Jeremie had figured enough out to realize that Aelita had to be located in the never ending depths of the virtual universe before anything could be done, but he wasn't yet sure on what would happen after that. Luckily, he had been keeping contact with Hopper, who was speeding up the process.

"_Aelita," _Jeremie said, gently knocking his knuckles against the hardwood of her door. _"Are you ready?"_

Excitedly, Aelita opened her door to greet Jeremie, ready for her first date. Jeremie was exasperated by the sight he was approached by. Aelita had been instructed by Yumi that first dates were a special occasion, and that she should dress nicely. She helped Aelita apply make-up for the first time, bringing out her already beautiful features. She had a little pink flower pinned in her hair just above where her bangs met her ear, and was wearing a slightly form fitting magenta colored dress with spaghetti straps. She had a white cardigan to wear over the dress, giving the outfit a bit of modesty, and finished the design off with white flip flops that had pink bows on them. The finish touch was a sweetly scented perfume she had been given to borrow by Yumi. Jeremie was delighted by the sight.

"_How do I look?" _She shyly asked.

"_Beautiful," _Jeremie replied, holding out his hand for her. She grabbed onto it without hesitation, and they strolled down the hallway.

Jeremie had been staring at his computer's screen for so long he was developing a headache. A faint yelp caught is attention.

"_Hurry, Jeremie!"_

Jeremie raised his gaze from his computer's monitor, staring up at the ceiling. "Hello?" He said.

"_Jeremie, there isn't much time!"_

Not much time? Why not? What was going to happen?

"What's wrong, Aelita?" Jeremie asked, growing worrisome. "Not much time for what?"

There was no answer. Aelita sure did love leaving Jeremie hanging from a cliff like this. He turned back around, quickly become re-engulfed in his work. Suddenly, his door flung wide open, slamming against the bedroom walls.

"Woah!" Jeremie yelped, jumping up in his seat. "Wh-who's there?" He stuttered, staring into the darkness that loomed on the outskirts of his open door. He heard a whimpering and a yelp. It almost sounded as if it were coming from a small dog… "…Kiwi?" Jeremie scooted his chair closer, expecting the tiny bull terrier to come waddling into his room. "Kiwi! Come here boy!"

A melancholic groan followed. The color drained from Jeremie's face, and an intense feeling of danger overwhelmed him.

"Th…th-th-th that's not K-k-kiwi…" He trembled in his seat, drawing his knees up to his chest. "A-A-Another… A-Attack!"

The same, deep moan from before occurred. It appeared louder this time. Jeremie's eyes were locked on his open door.

"_Jeremie…"_

"Aelita! What's going on!?"

"_Jeremie, whatever you do… Don't. Move."_

Jeremie froze. Don't move? Why? What was happening? Was something behind him? The room suddenly became very, very cold. He could almost see the meter on the thermostat moving downwards. A shiver ran up and down his spine. The superscanner! He had to turn around and run it, see if this was XANA's doing. But, Aelita strictly warned him not to move… What would happen if he spun his chair around to check the computer? It was worth a shot, there was only one way to find out.

Wait… the superscanner?

Oh, no! It had been deactivated because of the program Jeremie was running to find Aelita! Everything that could possibly go wrong all seemed to be happening at once. Something was in that hallway, something evil. Was it XANA? There was no way to tell. Even worse, if it _wasn't _XANA… then what could it possibly be?

The floor boards out in the hallway began to creak. And then, the door slammed shut, locking itself. Jeremie immediately jumped out of his chair, turning all of the lights on, and forced the door open. He stepped out into the hallway, panting heavily and looking in all directions.

Nothing.

It was as if nothing had ever happened to begin with. Jeremie sighed heavily with relief, turning to go back to his dorm. There was something different about is room. Something written on the wall. He adjusted his glasses and peered closer at the scribbling.

"Leave. Her. ALONE."

Jeremie was right. A XANA attack was the only explanation for this. He walked up to the wall, brushing his fingertip against the writing. His finger became coated with a warm, red residue. He drew his digit up to his nose, sniffing the substance, but it had no smell. He quickly darted his tongue out onto his finger, seeing if it had a taste. It was… salty. It was blood. Jeremie stepped back, once again becoming overwhelmed with terror. The heels of his feet knocked into something. Jeremie turned around, looking down at his feet.

Kiwi.


	17. Tension

**Once again, I've written a JxA Oneshot that I'd like for you Comatose fans to go check out! It's called Consumption! Check it out and leave a review! :) Enjoy the latest chapter of Comatose**

"Are you NUTS?" Odd screamed as he walked out of the Veterinarian's office, pushing Jeremie against the wall. "I don't know if this is your way of getting back at me for kissing your girlfriend, but you've got a sick and twisted way of doing so."

"Odd, what are you talking about? You think _I _did this to Kiwi?!" Jeremie pleaded, pushing his arms against Odd's chest as he lunged at the terrified blonde, trying to keep enough distance between the two so that he wouldn't be strangled right there in the lobby.

"Do you really expect me to believe that some dark moaning demon appeared in the middle of the night just to slice up my dog and write it on your wall? You think I'm stupid?" Odd gripped Jeremie shoulders, slamming his back against the wall. Jeremie grunted in pain while Ulrich ran over to Odd and yanked him away.

"Alright, Odd, knock it off."

"HE ALMOST KILLED MY DOG!"

"Maybe Jeremie's right, maybe it was a XANA attack," Yumi walked up next to Jeremie, who was trembling in fear for his life. "We can't tell for sure because we can't start the superscanner."

"Exactly, we can't tell for sure!" Odd pointed at Jeremie, attempting to jump at him again but was quickly held back by Ulrich's forceful grasp.

Yumi turned to face the rest of the lounge, glaring at all of the curious individuals had been staring at the scene of the fight and eavesdropping. "What the hell are you looking at?!" She screamed. Heads quickly turned.

"Okay, look Odd, is Kiwi going to be okay?" Ulrich asked.

"Yes, none of the cuts were really too deep."

"Then that's all that matters, right?"

"I guess," Odd coldly agreed while turning to stare at Jeremie. Instead, his eyes met the sight of a blank, white wall.

"Hey, where did Jeremie go?"

Yumi turned around. "Huh? He was just right here!"

Jeremie dashed through the revolving door of the Vet, knocking into a man on the way. He yelled out to him in anger, but Jeremie ignored it and ran down the street as quickly as he could.

"Well," Jeremie panted as he wisped down the sidewalk. "Since all my friends have turned against me, it looks like it's just you and I now, Aelita."

It took about fifteen minutes for Jeremie to reach the campus of Kadic, where he quickly collapsed beneath a shady tree to catch his breath. It was lucky for the four friends that everything necessary was in pretty decent walking distance from the school, since nobody was yet old enough to drive. Except for the hospital, that is. The hospital just _had_ to be the farthest walk of them all. After resting for a short moment, Jeremie hopped back onto his feet and ran inside the dorm building. He sprinted up the stairs, barely dodging all of the students that were making their way down for class, and hurried into his dorm room. As usual, the first seat he took was the one in front of his computer.

"Okay," he said, cracking his knuckles. "Let's see where you're hiding, my sweet."

Jeremie launched the program that would supposedly help locate Aelita in Lyoko.

"_Um… what's a filet mignon?" _

"_It means 'cute fillet,'" _Jeremie chuckled, smiling upon his radiant date that was sitting across from him. _"It's a steak cut of beef."_

"_What's steak?"_

"_Oh, boy," _Jeremie mocked under his breath. "_Um, why don't you just try it and see if you like it?"_

"_It looks expensive."_

"_Well, you're worth it."_

Aelita smiled at Jeremie and they were soon both greeted by the waiter. The waiter asked if the two could be started off simply with drinks, but Jeremie quickly notified the employee that they were ready for dinner. Aelita took Jeremie's advice and ordered the filet mignon, whereas Jeremie ordered himself a dish of pecan chicken. He also went ahead and ordered two glasses of Cola, ready to introduce Aelita to another one of Earth's pleasures.

Aelita stared confusedly as the waiter hastily returned with two glasses of the dark, bubbly beverage, sitting it on the table in front of her.

"_Aelita, have you had Coke yet?"_

Aelita's eyes widened. _"Jeremie!" _she screamed. "_You're on DRUGS?!"_

Jeremie nearly spit his drink out. _"What? No! Coke as in Coca Cola, the drink in front of you. Oh gosh, just try it. It's good."_

The inexperienced girl stared at the drink for a minute, watching the droplets of water condensate on the outside of the ice cold glass. Bubbles floated up from the bottom of the drink, breaking the barrier of ice cubes that hovered on the top. After heavily observing the new item, she obeyed Jeremie and took a sip of it through the bendy straw that had been supplied.

"_Oh!" _she yelped in delight, with an ecstatic grin spreading across her dainty face_. "I like it!"_

"_I had a feeling you would," _Jeremie smiled. He rested his cheek onto his fist, gazing into Aelita's sparkling emerald eyes.

"Come on, come on…" Jeremie gritted his teeth, staring at his computer screen as it ran a never ending search for Aelita. First the Mountain Sector, then the Desert, then Sector 5, and so on, and so on. Aelita had still yet to be found. The program was not easy to run, very specific coordinates and command keys had to be entered exactly every thirty seconds to keep the program running. There was a possibility that there could be a missing coordinate Jeremie couldn't search, or that he could accidentally typo a command with as fast as his fingers were moving across the keys. Veins probed under his skin, and sweat trickled off of his brow and nose. His heart was pounding in his chest, anxiety overwhelming his fragile body. This could be it, this could be the moment that the search for his love finally comes to an end… or it could be the moment where the realization occurs that the search will _never_ end.

"_Thank you for dinner, Jeremie… it was really wonderful. Everything was so delicious," _Aelita graciously said to Jeremie as he took her hand in his. Jeremie kissed his angel's tender hand and looked her in the eyes.

"_I'm glad you enjoyed it," _he said. "_But, it's not over, yet…"_

"_It's not?"_

Jeremie, holding onto her hand, led Aelita down the street and off into the distance. They happily ran in laughter.

Jeremie's mind was stripped out of it's daydream as a high-pitched whining erupted from his computer. A map of the polar sector had popped up and zoomed into the digital sea. There was a tiny, pink question mark placed upon the map… and it was moving. Jeremie's look of astonishment quickly transformed into a brilliant, tooth filled grin.

"AELITA!" He joyfully shouted, jumping out of his chair and dancing around his room. He ran out of the dorm and screamed her name over and over again down the hallways. "AELITA! I DID IT! I DID IT!" The looks of students in the building were quickly drawn over to Jeremie. They stared at him with slightly fearful eyes, trying to keep distance from the boy who had appeared to have gone mad. Jeremie ran down the stairs, spinning around the railing. He pulled out his cell phone as he continued his rant of happiness while dialing Yumi's number.

"Hello?" Yumi answered. She was on her way back to Kadic with Odd and Ulrich, Kiwi had to be kept overnight for recovery. He was such a bubbly and energetic dog that he would rip out his stiches if they had let him go home with Odd that night.

"YUMI! YUMI!"

"Jeremie? What? What is it?"

"I DID IT! TO THE FACTORY, NOW! I DID IT!"

"Did what?" Yumi stopped in her tracks, perplexed.

"I… I found Aelita."

Without hesitation, Yumi put her phone away and nudged the others to head to the factory. She and Ulrich sprinted ahead, but Odd moved not a single inch. They quickly noticed that Odd was not behind them, and turned around to see if he had fallen behind.

"Odd," Ulrich said. "What are you doing? Aren't you coming?"

"No."

"What?" Yumi asked. "Why?"

"I'm not helping that freak with anything!"

"Odd," Ulrich walked up next to his friend. "Listen. I know you're upset about Kiwi, but we don't know _who _did it. I don't believe it was Jeremie, I mean how could you expect him to do something like that?"

"Well he's gone completely coo coo lately so I wouldn't hold it against him," The spike haired boy snapped, crossing his arms and sticking his nose in the air.

"Ugh, Odd. Look… you don't want to help Jer? Fine. Don't help him. We aren't doing this for Jeremie, Odd… we're doing it for Aelita. You won't help Aelita?"

Ulrich had got him. He gave up his act of stubbornness and unfolded his arms. "Fine," he sighed.

"Good," Ulrich replied. He grabbed Odd's wrist to make sure this time he would follow along, and ran along to catch up with Yumi.

Jeremie stepped into the elevator and slammed his palm against the large red button that signaled the cart to travel down. He was jittery from the excitement, and couldn't wait to see Aelita again.

"_Well, what did you think?" _Jeremie asked his date as they walked out of the movie theater. Aelita was happily munching on the leftover popcorn Jeremie had introduced her to. The buttery smell and salty taste delighted her as she rolled the kernels around her tongue in ecstasy, feeling the pieces almost melting in her mouth.

"_Oh, Jeremie, it was wonderful! Just like the rest of tonight has been. Thank you for showing me more of what it's like to be alive." _She leaned over and pecked Jeremie on the cheek, and his pale cheeks flushed pink.

"_Oh, well I, uh… it was nothing…" _

Aelita smiled at him before noticing an odd, uncomfortable sensation in her mouth. She became confused as to what was causing the displeasure in her gums, sweeping her tongue across her teeth as she tried to decipher the foreign object.

"_Are you okay?" _Jeremie asked, seeing Aelita make weird notions with her mouth.

"_There's something stuck in my teeth," _she complained as she dug her fingernail in the space between her teeth and gum line. A sharp popcorn kernel was wedged beneath. _"Ow! … There, got it."_

"_Oh, that's just popcorn. It happens to everyone." _Jeremie smiled and popped a piece into his mouth, placing his arm behind Aelita and escorting her down the sidewalk.

"I'm coming, Aelita." The elevator shifted and began its travel down the cables, until rough vibrations shook the cart and tumbled Jeremie against the wall. The elevator stopped, and the wires outside began to creak. Jeremie picked up his glasses that had fallen to the floor and looked around him. "What in the world…"

The elevator shook again, knocking Einstein to the ground. The lights flickered for a bit, followed by a loud pop from the bulbs shattering. Jeremie covered his head as glass shards sprinkled down around him, one of them catching onto his skin and dragging down his wrist. He wrapped his unwounded hand against his joint, applying pressure to help the bleeding subside. There was a loud thump on the top of the elevator, causing Jeremie to bounce up off of the floor. He stared above him as he heard eerie creaking on the cart's roof, as if there was someone… or, something, right above his head.

"He…hello?" he trembled. "Who's there?"

The same, sickening moan that had haunted him the night before ensued. Jeremie huddled into the corner of the elevator while clutching his wounded joint, attempting to hide from whatever danger lurked above.

"Jeremie, we're here!" Yumi announced as she hopped onto the concrete floor of the factory. Her voice echoed throughout the vast emptiness of the abandoned building, and there was no response. "Jeremie?"

"Where could he be?" Ulrich asked, scratching his chin. "Is he already down in the lab?"

"We can go check, come on, let's go to the elevator."

The creaking, thudding, and moaning only got louder. Jeremie curled up in the darkness, holding his hands above his head.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed. "GO AWAY! I SAID GO AWAY!"

Silence. It was as if the mysterious creature decided to listen to him. Jeremie sat up, still shivering with fear; looking around him to make sure the coast was clear. The terrified teen finally mustered enough courage to stand up. He stared above him. Still, silence.

"Phew," he sighed, letting his body relax. He had spoken too soon. The creaking returned, fiercer than ever, and there was an ear piercing snap from above the cart. Jeremie was soon confronted with the overwhelming feeling of free-falling. The cables in the elevator had snapped, and he was making a steady plunge to doom.

Jeremie cried out at the top of his lungs. "HEEEEEELLLLPPPP! SOMEBODY, HELP! HELP ME! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Was that… Jeremie?!" Yumi panicked, repeatedly pressing the elevator button. It was taking so long to open. "COME ON! HURRY UP!" She slammed her fist into the button. The elevator door slowly creaked open, revealing a petrified Jeremie curled up on the floor in the fetal position. He stared blankly at the wall, shaking, but not muttering a single word. The light bulbs were still intact, with the lights shining brightly. The cables had not snapped, in fact the elevator had not even moved. Somehow, though, Jeremie had still managed to cut his wrist, and the others quickly took note of this, assuming the worst.

"Oh my God…" Ulrich gasped.

"That's it," Yumi demanded. "This has gone too far."


	18. Locked Up

**This chapter is in Jeremie's point of view. Flashbacks remain in Third Person point of view.**

My eyes slowly peel open, but I immediately squint and turn away after being attacked by overwhelming brightness. A blunt sting throbs through my occipital lobe and I see colored spots floating in the darkness of my shut eyelids. I rapidly blink, without actually opening my eyes, to help the pain subside. My sensitive pupils begin to adjust to the luminescent light as the pitch blackness of my tightly closed lids fades into a vibrant orange. I try opening my eyes again, but it takes a few seconds to be able to lie with them fully open. It's _so _bright in here. Everything is as white as sparkling snow, and the window blinds are open, letting the sun shine through the room and increase the light intensity. Ouch. I'm still seeing spots.

Wait, where have I been before where everything was plain and white, and the light was so incredibly blinding for no reason? A hospital room. Am I in Aelita's room? Aelita!

What the…? I try to sit up and observe my surroundings, but… I can't move. I can't move! Something rough is holding me down, and each squirm and twitch from my body feels as if the grip only tightens. There are leather restraints buckled across my torso and limbs, clipped onto the sides of the bed. I'm forced to stare straight ahead at the fluorescent light bulbs above. By the time I get out of here I'm going to be blind. This definitely isn't Aelita's room. Who's room is it, and why am I in their bed? They aren't going to be happy about finding a strange, small boy shackled to their sheets.

Unless… this isn't anyone's room but my own. Why do I have a hospital room? What happened? I can't remember anything. My mind manages to process so much complex information on a daily basis, but I can't even get myself to remember the events from previous nights. Wonderful, Jeremie. Well, there's only one way I can think of to get some answers.

"Hello?" I shout, hoping somebody will hear. It wouldn't matter whether or not I had a nurse button to press, since, you know, I'm tied down and all. "Hello! Somebody! HELP!" I raise the volume of my voice with each vocalization until finally, somebody runs in. A little nurse.

"Oh," she squeaks. "You're awake!"

"Why am I tied to this bed?"

"Well, you became very unstable, and we thought it was best for your own safety."

Me? Unstable? What a joke. I wouldn't hurt a fly.

"Well, I'm perfectly fine now," I say, hoping to convince her to untie me. These are really uncomfortable. "Can I please get out of these… restraints?"

"Um… let me just go check with the doctor, dear." I saw right through her false act of politeness, she didn't seem at all keen on letting me loose. What on Earth did I do last night? The last thing I remember was being on the floor of the elevator back in the factory. What happened after? Hmm… the elevator…

"_That's it. This has gone too far."_

I remember hearing Yumi's voice, and Ulrich's, too… but not Odd. Was Odd even there? He must have never shown up… still mad about Kiwi…

"_Jeremie, what the hell are you doing? Jeremie, STOP!"_

Stop? Stop what? What did I do? Oh God, why can't I remember?! I close my eyes and try my hardest to reminisce on the lost events; Images of screaming, struggling, and biting flash through my brain in waves of red.

"_Jeremie, you need help."_

"_THE ONLY ONE WHO NEEDS HELP HERE IS AELITA! LET ME GO! I SAID LET ME GO, DAMMIT!"_

"_OW!"_

I need help? Shit. Now I know where I am. That's why I'm restrained.

"Alright, dear." The short, chubby nurse waddles into the room with a set of keys. "You're free to move about, but we can't release you from the hospital just yet. Still running some tests, dear." She comes over to my bed side and fiddles around with the chain of keys for moment before finally discovering which one appeared to be the right fit for the restraints. They were locked into the bed rail so that I couldn't easily escape, I guess. A few clicks of the key turning and I was free. The first thing I did was lift myself up and caress my sore wrists. Deep, red grooves spiraled up and down my arms from the leather belts.

"Thanks," I groan. I want to go home. I miss Aelita.

"Can I get you some water, dear, some juice maybe, or something to eat? You must awfully hungry, dear."

I swear to God if I hear the word 'dear' coo out of her mouth one more time. "Um, sure, I'll take some food." I'm not hungry at all, but at least it will get her the hell out of my room.

"Alrighty dear, I'll be right back with some breakfast for you."

Breakfast? At least I've got some idea of what time it is, then. I need to call Yumi, or Ulrich. I lean down over the bed and search around, seeing if my phone was on the ground somewhere. Nope. I look over at the chair pressed up against the sink, but it's not sitting there, either. As a matter of fact, I don't see any of my stuff anywhere. My wrist begins to throb, and I hold it up to my eyes, gazing upon the stitched wound. How did _that_ happen?

"Jeremie?"

I jolt slightly, being startled from the sudden calling of my name followed by a gentle knock on the door.

"Come in," I say. The door creaks open and the familiar Asian wonder dressed in all black helps herself into my room. I want to smile at her and say hello, but something in my subconscious is hindering me reluctant to do so. I'm not sure what.

"Hi, Jeremie," she quietly greets. "How are you feeling?"

"Yumi, why am I here?" I jump straight to the point. I need answers, and I need them now. She bites the corner of her lower lip while turning her gaze away from me. She knows why I'm here, but she doesn't want to tell me. I think this has something to do with why I feel slightly angry with her inside. "Yumi," I blankly state. "I asked you a question."

"We um… last night, after the incident, we decided it was time to get you some help."

"So you threw me in a mental institution?!" I snap at her, feeling betrayed. I was so close to finally rescuing Aelita, and they snatched me away from my work and locked me up. These are not my friends.

"Jeremie, it was for your own good! You're quiet all the time, and if you aren't silent then you're lashing out at the next person you see. You're talking to walls and other inanimate objects, claiming you can hear Aelita's voice, and now you're seeing ghosts?"

"But I _can_ hear Aelita!"

"Jeremie, stop."

"No, Yumi, YOU STOP! I was finally so close to rescuing our beloved friend and you snatched me away from that! All of you did! You betrayed me in such a way that I don't know if I can ever forgive you." I cross my arms and pout, staring coldly at the wall besides me. I refuse to look at her.

"Jeremie, you were crying in an elevator and you slit your own wrists."

I look at the stitches travelling up my scrawny arms. I didn't do this to myself. I couldn't have. It was the light! The broken light bulbs!

"I didn't do this, Yumi, it was from broken glass!"

"What broken glass, Jeremie? There was nothing wrong. You were running around screaming about demons and voices and broken lights, but there was nothing in that factory besides you; curled up on the floor of the elevator, surrounded by your very concerned friends. You needed to get help, Jeremie."

"The only one of us who needs help is Aelita!" Saying that sentence triggered something in my head, and suddenly all of the events from last night come rushing fresh into my mind.

"_That's it, this has gone too far," _Yumi stares down at me with her eyes full of sorrow and worry. She kneels down towards me and attempts to lift me up, but I scream at her for touching me and push her to the ground.

"_Jeremie!" _Odd and Ulrich both angrily scream at me for hurting their friend. Ulrich takes me by my left arm, and Odd clings onto my right. I kick and flail relentlessly trying to break free from their fierce grip. Yumi backs away, dodging my sneaker as it flings off of my foot and lands across the room.

"_Jeremie," _Ulrich shouts. _"What the hell are you doing? Jeremie, STOP IT!" _They're treating me like I'm a five year old having a tantrum in a grocery store. All I wanted to do was save Aelita. Without her in the world, there's no air to breathe and no sights to see. I am nothing without her; and my so called 'friends' are trying to keep us apart. In an act of self-defense, I chomp my teeth down onto Ulrich's shoulder.

"_OW!"_

"_That's it," _Odd says, digging his cell phone out of his pocket. _"I'm calling for an Ambulance."_

"_LET ME GO!" _I scream. _"I SAID LET ME GO, DAMMIT!"_

Yumi gets up from the ground and brushes the dust off of her outfit. She walks up to me and for a moment, I stop kicking.

"_Sorry, Jeremie," _she says, while clenching her fist at her side. _"But this is for your own good." _

Thwack. Lights out for me.

There is a long moment of silence as I sit on the bed with my eyes closed, trying to take in all of what has happened. I exhale deeply, attempting to handle all of these emotions I'm feeling at once. Yumi breaks the silence.

"We barely recognize you anymore, Jeremie."

My eyes are still fixed on that wall. It's much more tolerable to look at than the glare of disappointment raging upon Yumi's pale face. I sigh one again, and in a soft voice, ask her a simple favor.

"Okay, Yumi. I'll stay here and get help… on one condition."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"Please bring me my laptop so that while I'm here, I can work on freeing Aelita from the digital sea."

Yumi's brows tightened for a moment and she stared at me with disapproval. I knew she didn't want to say yes, because they all thought me trying to free Aelita was what was driving me insane. It didn't matter if I ended up killing myself in the process, I had to save Aelita. I had to get her back.

"Fine," she coldly agreed, nodding her head slightly. Yumi left the room, leaving the door open behind her.

The annoying nurse from earlier trotted into my room with a tray of edibles. She placed it on the bedside cart and rolled it over to me and lifted up the cover; revealing a plate of mushy, scrambled eggs on the side of flimsy, undercooked bacon. There was a glass of orange juice to drink, and I don't even like orange juice. There was also a separate plate of hotcakes with sticky, cold syrup drizzled over top and a chunk of butter planted in the middle. My stomach churned at the unsightly meal, but I had a feeling she wasn't going to let me get away with not eating.

"Eat up, dear," she cheerfully pleaded, staring at me from her eerie, blue eyes. Her cheeks were defined and vibrantly red, I'm not sure if it was her natural pigment or a truck load of poorly colored blush. She smiled down at me, and I almost cringed. Her teeth were very faintly yellow with the presence of coffee stains, and her two front incisors were slightly coated with the red lipstick that she had globbed onto her puffy, full lips. She appeared to spend so much time on her make-up, but couldn't take any extra time to pluck the fine, black hairs that sat above her upper lip. She had frizzy, red hair pulled back into a bun, but there were several loose strands that hung down. I felt one of them tickle my nose, and this nearly made me pee myself from realizing that's how close she was to me. I hadn't even noticed that she had bent over my bed to straighten out my sheets and tuck me in. This woman wreaked of soap and old library books.

"Um, I like to eat when I'm alone." I made up the first excuse I could think of just to get away from her.

"Oh, alrighty then. That's no problem at all dear; you enjoy now and press that big red button if you need anything!" She handed me the remote that controlled the bed's position, the TV channel, and also contained the call for help button. Then, she quickly scuttled out of my room, letting the door fall shut behind her. I threw myself back onto my bed, letting my aching head sink into the comfort of the cold, delicate pillow.

"_I love autumn." _Aelita sat down onto the picnic blanket, straightening out her skirt and toying with her hair that had been frizzed a bit by the wind. Jeremie removed her hand from her scalp.

"_You look fine, Aelita. Beautiful." _Aelita smiled at Jeremie and gave him a loving peck on the lips. _"Now, let's eat, shall we?"_

The two had prepared for a picnic in the park on the cool, fall afternoon. They sat in the most isolated area down the hill, surrounded by beautiful, orange tinted foliage. Leaves in shades of yellow, red and brown gently tumbled towards the ground and danced among the wind, wisping around the young couple. It was calm, quiet and peaceful. Aelita closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, letting her nose absorb the crisp sensation of the autumn atmosphere. Jeremie opened the basket and removed two fragile glasses, a bottle of sparkling grape juice, two submarine sandwich loaves and assorted plastic bags of toppings. There were also strawberries and chunks of pineapple just for Aelita, who had fallen in love with the tangy delicacy of the two fruits.

"_You packed strawberries!" _She squealed as Jeremie slowly removed the bag of fruits from the basket. _"And pineapple!" _

"_Just for you, Aelita."_

"_Jeremie, you are so wonderful," _She exhaled in delight and embraced Jeremie in a hug. In response, Jeremie wrapped his arms around her petite body, letting the heat radiating off of their skin warm each other up as the nippy breeze sent chills down their spines. Aelita nuzzled her face into Jeremie's chest, absorbing the comforting scent of the laundry detergent that settled into his sweater. She listened to the sound of his heart beating, almost falling asleep to it. Eventually, she left the comfort of his arms and moved her lips next to his ear.

"_I love you, Jeremie," _she gently whispered, feeling Jeremie's facial muscles tighten against her cheeks as his mouth emerged into a large grin.

I roll over in the bed, wrapped up in the warmth of the heated hospital blankets. This is the first time in a while I've woken up on my own without being dragged out of sleep by some outside force. I smile at the memories I had just visited in a dream, before being distracted by yet another knock on my door. I must be famous with as many people wanting to see me today. The door clicks open and I see Yumi followed by two others walk into my room. Yumi walks over to my bedside and I feel something heavy get thrown down onto the mattress. My laptop. I immediately sit up and grab it, setting it on my lap and opening the lid.

"Thanks, Yumi." She nods in return, but doesn't say a word. Behind her I see Ulrich and Odd.

"How are you feeling, Jer?" Ulrich politely asks. Odd just stands there with his arms crossed, stubborn as a mule.

"Fine," I reply generically. I don't feel anything at all without Aelita by my side.

"That's good," he says in return. They stand in silence for a moment, but I don't dither to start up Lyoko's interface on my computer. There's only one to way to free Aelita, and that's to create a program that will literally materialize her wandering soul. Then, once the bodiless spirit is here on Earth, we have to send it in the right direction, where it will bond with Aelita's resting body, and she will awaken once again. I haven't told any of the others yet, because I know for a fact they'll think I'm insane for thinking I can materialize a spirit onto Earth. I'll wait until the program is ready, then I'll tell them.

"You aren't too mad at us, are you, Jer?" Ulrich cautiously asks, scratching the back of his neck. I look up at him, and the corner of my mouth twerks upwards.

"No."

Ulrich smiles back at me, looking relieved. Even Odd wipes the scowl off of his face, but I think that's more-so because he noticed the untouched plate of food sitting in the corner of the room.

"Hey, um… are you going to eat that?"

Good old Odd. I shake my head, allowing him to help himself. He immediately starts shoveling the food into his mouth. It's unbelievable to think how he can stomach that junk. Yumi stretches her arms and let out a miniscule yawn, causing me to turn my head to the window and notice that it's now dark out.

"Well," she says. "I think I should get going, before my parents ground me again before being out too late." She waves goodbye to me and walks out the door, with Ulrich quickly following behind her.

"I'll walk you home." He puts his hand on her waist and escorts her out of my room. I glance over to Odd, who drops the fork onto the now empty plate. We make eye contact for less than a second, and he scurries out of the room like a scared cat without even saying goodbye.

Perhaps there is still hope for salvaging mine and Odd's friendship, but that will have to wait until another day. For now, I've got work to do.


	19. Book of Revelations

**After proof-reading this chapter I realized I have issues with switching from present to past tense. I hope it doesn't bother you guys too much; it's not that I don't notice the errors… just too lazy to go back and retype everything in a different tense! xP**

"YOU CANNOT HAVE HER!" The distorted voice cackles as the ghostly figure raises Aelita into its shadowy arms and disperses through the wall. Jeremie travels endlessly behind him, his leg muscles growing weak and his breath running short. He turns around every corner of the dark corridor, following Aelita's desperate cries for help.

"Jeremie!" she bellows, reaching her arms out to the determined boy fast approaching her. Tears stream down her pale, fear-stricken face as she dreadfully tries to escape. Jeremie tries numerous times to grab her arm. He quickens his pace, swatting his hands at her in a futile attempt to pull her away from the villain's grasp. Their fingertips briefly touch until the figure disappears into the darkness suddenly, and Jeremie, who can run no more, collapses to the ground. He raises himself to sit on his knees, calling out into the black void that looms in front of him.

"Aelita!" he screams, feeling his heart shatter into pieces. "AELITA!" he cries louder, reaching out into the blackness. There is no response, and he throws his fists onto the hard, concrete surface beneath him, sobbing to no end. "Aelita…" he chokes, knowing that was the last time he'd ever see her.

Jeremie shoots awake in his bed, panting heavily. The beeping of his heart monitor has increased drastically and he can feel his heart almost busting out of his chest. Jeremie wipes the beads of sweat off of his forehead, and one of the nurses on third shift duty enters his room, flipping on the light switch. Jeremie winces, squinting one of his eyes and turning away from the door in an attempt to hide from the blinding lights.

"Are you alright? I heard a scream, and I noticed your heart pattern has increased."

Jeremie, still petrified, simply nods at her to the best of his ability. She looks upon him slightly perplexed, although not completely surprised, as this is common of most mental cases.

"I suppose you just had a nightmare, then?"

Again, Jeremie only nods.

"I think it's time we've set you up an appointment with our hospital counselor." With that, the nurse silently exits the room, followed by the soft click of the light switch being switched back to 'off.' Jeremie sighs and throws his head back down onto his pillow.

"I was hoping that this whole being in the hospital thing was a dream, too," he whines, while tugging at his hair. He turns his head towards the nightstand next to him, feeling around for his glasses. Jeremie takes the ends of his hospital gown and rubs it against the lens of his eyeglasses, cleaning off any smudges that would impair his vision. He slips the glasses onto his face, removes the finger tab that measures his pulse, slides out of bed, and turns the lights back on. The night atmosphere is silent, with the only sound audible being the musical chirping of the crickets perched outside the window. Jeremie removes his laptop from the chair in the room's corner and hastily climbs back into bed. Every waking second was spent on that computer, trying to figure out a new way to rescue Aelita from the grasp of XANA.

Jeremie started up his computer. The humble whirring of the processor running was almost calming to him. He sat in contentment with his eyes closed, hovering his hands over the vents that rested on the sides of his laptop. The hot air that emitted warmed his palms and spread to the rest of his skinny body. The lack of meat on his bones rendered him chilly almost 24/7. It didn't take long for everything to load, and he was soon typing away on the internet. Jeremie spent hours doing vast amounts of research on bringing trapped spiritual beings into the real world, because honestly, at this point, he had close to no idea what he was doing. Anything would help him, and he was more than determined to figure something out. Soon enough, the soft chirping of crickets blended into the cheerful tweeting of pudgy little birds, welcoming the rising sun. It clicked into his head that he had literally just spent an entire night working… and had accomplished literally nothing. He slammed his computer's cover shut in fury. Jeremie was failing, and while he was wasting time and energy, Aelita was slipping even further away.

"Good Morning dear," the same chubby nurse from a few days earlier greeted as she helped herself into Jeremie's room. She was carrying a few test tubes and a needle. Jeremie stared at the pointed object in her hand, raising an eyebrow and scooting back on the bed a bit. It wasn't that he was afraid of needles, really, but he certainly wasn't fond of them. "I need to take a few samples of your blood. I hope you've had something to eat, yes?"

Eat? What's eating? Jeremie had almost forgotten; it had been so long since he had consumed anything of sustenance. He nodded his head in agreement, lying of course. He just didn't feel like having food shoved down his throat when he already lacked an appetite. What's more, he didn't want to have to eat and then anxiously wait for her to come back with the needle again. He'd rather get it done and over with. At least then, the frustrated young boy could sulk in peace.

The nurse pulled the chair up by Jeremie's bed and tightly tied a bandaged around his elbow for circulation purposes. She then gave him a stress ball to squeeze while she prodded around his arm, searching for the appropriate vein that would donate a healthy amount of blood. To finish the preparation process, she pulled an alcohol swab out of the pocket in the upper part of her scrubs and sanitized the penetration area.

"Now, you'll feel a slight pinch, dear, and I've got to fill up all four of these test tubes. Ready? One…two…three!"

Jeremie turned his head and tightly shut his eyes as he felt the dull pinch of the needle sliding into his arm. Only a couple of seconds and the pain diminished, but the process was repeated as needed until the nurse had acquired the amount she needed. She pulled a juvenile Band-Aid that had Scooby-Doo printed on it out of her pocket, and placed it over the tiny puncture wound. She smiled at Jeremie and escorted herself out of the room, giving him the privacy he wanted.

Almost immediately, Jeremie began to feel dizzy. Blood samples on an empty stomach were a horrible idea. The color drained from his face and he sat on his bed, groaning in confusion. The room began to spin before his eyes and his heart rate decreased dramatically. He could hear every dragging thump loudly in his ears. Jeremie relaxed his eyelids and held the temples on both sides of his head, massaging them to relieve the aching pressure. When he opened his eyes, hoping to no longer see the room tumbling about, he met the sight of the beautiful, tender-hearted Aelita. She giggled at his bewildered expression.

"Aelita!" Jeremie rubbed his eyes furiously and rapidly blinked, making sure he wasn't just dreaming again. She didn't say anything back, but merely stared at him with a petite smile planted upon her soft face. "Hello?" Jeremie said, staring right back at her. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"Anything," she mockingly joked. Jeremie chuckled at her sense of humor and exhaled deeply. The stress and tension that had been building up in his bones for months now was finally relieved by the sight of her. After all, he couldn't exactly visit her if he was confined to his dorm room or the mental hospital. Aelita, happy to see Jeremie feeling more relaxed, pointed her finger in the direction of the nightstand. Jeremie followed her finger, expecting to see something sticking out like a sore thumb, but witnessed only the hospital's solid, white walls, and the lonely, wooden nightstand, pressed against the wall with nothing sitting upon it besides a Get Well Soon card from Ulrich and Yumi. He looked back to Aelita to ask her what she was pointing at… but she was gone.

"Wha… huh?!" Jeremie gasped, staring at the wall in wonderment. The nurse walked into the room and caught the sight of the dazed young man… talking to a wall.

"Um, excuse me, dear…"

Jeremie immediately snapped out of his state, and turned towards the nurse. "Oh," he said. "Hello."

"Who were you talking to?"

"N… no one." If he told her that he just saw his comatose girlfriend standing right in front of him before she spontaneously disappeared, he'd surely be thrown away in a heavily padded room.

"Oh," the nurse replied. Clearly, she didn't believe him, but she made nothing more of it. In her hand was a Juicy Juice box containing apple juice and a packet of chocolate chip cookies. She set them on the nightstand by the bed. "I brought these for you dear, since I know you gave blood on an empty stomach" She winked at him, not seeming too upset over his white lies. "Best to get some sugar in you, dear." She politely smiled at him before once again leaving the room. Jeremie, who suddenly felt very dehydrated, grabbed the juice box with delight and immediately began sucking from it. The cookies, however, he left alone. Jeremie didn't care too much for cookies unless he had a glass of milk along with it. Once he had quenched his thirst, he crawled back out of bed and walked over to the corner Aelita had pointed to.

"Hmmm…" he pondered, scratching his chin. He got down on all fours and explored every nook and cranny he could think of in this specific area, yet nothing of interest came up. When he stood up, though, he noticed that the drawer of the nightstand was now open. "That's weird… I don't remember opening that." Naturally, Jeremie peeked inside… where a strange, black book was waiting for him. There was no trim, no title, no author… just solid black. It looked almost… threatening.

Of course, Jeremie's inquisitive self caused him to immediately open the book. He flipped through without actually reading anything, seeing what looked like a strange, foreign language. The pages were thin and frail, leaving Jeremie feeling as if he was going to accidentally rip it to pieces if he wasn't careful. This book was not new, that's for sure. Jeremie turned back to the first page and looked carefully at the writing scribbled onto the inside of the cover. The sensation of both fear and excitement upon reading the scripture caused him to tremble so heavily he almost dropped the book.

The Book of X.A.N.A.


	20. And So It Ends

_The sensation of both fear and excitement upon reading the scripture caused him to tremble so heavily he almost dropped the book…_

_The Book of X.A.N.A._

Jeremie hastily flipped through the pages. What at first appeared to be a foreign language was actually the nearly microscopic writing of Franz Hopper and every little bit of coding and programming he had ever written. The contents of that entire book thoroughly explained how and why Lyoko was created, following the supercomputer, scanners, and last of all, XANA. It was as if Jeremie had found a one-way ticket straight to XANA's brain. He captivated the bountiful information, nearly drooling.

"This is… this is incredible!" He shouted with glee, overjoyed by how helpful all of this material could possibly be. Something, however, caught his eye. As he turned the fragile sheets, he felt his fingertips rub against the frayed, rough edges of what once held a page to the book's binding. Upon closer inspection, he realized that there was a page missing from the hardcover. Only one page out of the other hundreds, but perhaps that single, absent page contained the most relevant information to his search. In an effort to find out, Jeremie sat down on the floor and heavily read the entire book, front to back. There was so much he had learned, so many wonderful calculations, but nothing would directly help his quest at the moment. Feeling conflicted; he slammed the book shut and laid it on the ground. The orange hue cast into the atmosphere from the sun slowly sinking beneath the horizon crept through the slits of the window blinds. Looking at the clock, Jeremie noticed that it was already seven in the evening. There wasn't anything else he could do for the night, and so he reluctantly climbed into bed.

He tossed and turned for a few moments, unable to get comfortable. Perhaps flipping the pillow over and tossing it for a bit would held him rest his head. He picked up his pillow, and to his surprise, found a wrinkled page planted upon the mattress by it's lonesome.

"…where did this come from?" Jeremie asked, gently taking the sheet into his grasp. The silky texture of it felt exactly the same as the pages from the Book of Xana. The handwriting looked the same, too. It _was_ the same. It was the missing page from the book. Jeremie's accusations were right… his glasses slid right off of his face, and he nearly fainted. That page contained everything he needed to take the next step in saving Aelita.

"_You're welcome." _ The voice of not only Aelita, but this time, Franz Hopper as well, reverberated throughout the room.

Jeremie would waste absolutely no time.

"_Hey, where is Aelita?" _Jeremie inquired as he took his seat in History class next to Odd, who responded with a simple shrug. Ulrich, who was sitting behind him, probed into the conversation.

"_I haven't seen her all day. She wasn't in her other classes, either." _

"_Hmm,"_ Jeremie replied, tapping his fingers against his lips as he pondered the idea of Aelita not being in class. Aelita loved school and learning, so it wasn't like her to skip. If she was sick, she surely would have texted or called somebody to let them know. Aelita wasn't the kind of person who would just leave you hanging like that.

As soon as the bell rang, Jeremie sprinted out of the room and ran straight towards the girls' dormitory floor. He paused to catch his breath and re-adjust the glasses that had slipped down onto the tip of his nose, and then cautiously knocked on Aelita's door. There was no answer.

"_Aelita?"_ Jeremie was starting to get worried. He tended to be overprotective of her, and right now only the worst case scenarios were running through his head. He knocked again, more frantically this time. Still, there was no response from the timid, pink-haired angel. He turned the doorknob to see if it was unlocked and, to his surprise, it was. He took it upon himself to walk into Aelita's bedroom.

"_Aelita!"_ Jeremie cried, running to her bedside.

"_Go away,"_ she snapped. Aelita sat curled up in the corner of her bed, leaning her head against the wall. Her blinds were closed and the lights were off, leaving the room very dark and gloomy. She held Mr. Puck tightly against her chest. Her eyes were red and puffy, as if she had spent the day crying. Jeremie gently sat down on the edge of her bed. There was a single tear sitting on her cheek, and Jeremie brushed his thumb against her face to remove the wet drop.

"_What's the matter?"_ He soothingly asked. Aelita turned her head away and buried herself into Mr. Puck. _"Why weren't you in class?"_

"_I didn't feel like going,"_ she sternly muffled, her lips pressed against the doll.

"_You know if you have a problem, you can tell me, Aelita…"_ Jeremie scooted himself closer next to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. She removed her face from the comfort of her little goblin doll and looked up at Jeremie with sorrowful eyes.

"_This isn't fair. When holidays come around, everyone has somewhere to go except me. I sit here all alone with Mr. Puck and Kiwi. Odd complains about how perfect his parents are and how he wishes for once they would discipline him in some way. Ulrich complains about how stuck up his parents are and how his dad always expects too much out of him, Yumi complains about how her parents always fight… and me, well I just wish I even had parents to complain about! I don't have anything. I'm nothing. I was robbed of a family and it's not fair!"_ Aelita turned away and reburied herself into her doll, harshly sobbing. Jeremie tugged on her shoulder, nudging her to curl up against him instead of Mr. Puck. Without looking up, she turned away from the wall and gently leaned nuzzled herself into Jeremie's chest. Jeremie wrapped his arms around her and ran his fingers through her hair as she let her feelings of despair out.

"_It's okay, Aelita…"_

Aelita shot her head up and glared at Jeremie as the tears streamed down her face. _"Easy for you to say," _she cried out. "_You weren't stuck in a computer for 10 years! How can you just say it's going to be okay, Jeremie?" _Jeremie merely smiled down at her as he continued to wipe the tears away from her face.

"_You are not nothing, Aelita. You are absolutely everything. Not just to me, but to Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi as well."_ Aelita sniffled and buried herself against Jeremie again. She leaned her ear against his chest so she could hear the sound of his heart beating. _"And you have me, Aelita," _Jeremie continued. _"You'll always have me. Someday, we can start our own family together. But until then… well, I'm your family." _Aelita had stopped crying, and she looked up at Jeremie and masked a smile underneath the sadness on her face. Jeremie smiled down at her, and kissed her forehead. _"I love you," _he whispered against her soft hair.

Jeremie spent all night working with the information he had retrieved from XANA's book, and once he had gotten what he needed, he hurriedly called up all of the Lyoko warriors…even Odd. It was three in the morning, but Jeremie's voice over the phone was frantic, and so they all rushed over. He ecstatically greeted them as they dragged their sleepy bodies into his room. Odd leaned against the wall, sliding down onto the floor as he nearly passed out. Ulrich pulled up the chair and spun it around, sitting in it and resting his arms on the back of the chair. Yumi stood in the corner, stretching her arms and letting out a big yawn.

"Well?" Ulrich questioned. "What's so important that we had to come over here so early in the morning?"

Jeremie smugly looked at his friends. "Well… you aren't going to believe this, but…"

Gentle snores started coming from the end of the room. Odd was happily snoozing against the wall, until Yumi walked over and slightly kicked his leg.

"Huh?" he gasped, wiping drool from the corner of his mouth. "What happened?"

"You might want to hear this, Odd," Yumi said.

Jeremie rolled his eyes at Odd, but then continued his statement. "Well… we're ready to save Aelita."

"What!?" They all cried, excited but also perplexed.

"I'm sorry," Ulrich said in disbelief. "Can you repeat that?"

"I said… We're ready to save Aelita."

Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich straightened their postures and brought their full attention to Jeremie. Their eyes widened and every emotion contained in their body had been overwhelmed with pure astonishment and curiosity. They leaned closer to Jeremie, ready to listen to anything he had to say.

"How did you manage that, Einstein?"

"Well, thanks to a little help from Franz Hopper, I managed to come across a very special book written on XANA himself. It contains every little bit of code ever conducted to create our little friend."

"Alright…" Yumi said, scratching her chin slightly. "Go on."

"Well, here's what's going to happen. We know Aelita's soul has been separated from her physical body and imprisoned by XANA somewhere in the digital sea. Thanks to the program Franz helped me put together, we were able to locate her. Now we have to get her out of there."

"Yeah, we already knew that, but how do we do that, exactly?" Odd asked as he stood up and brushed off his pants, erasing the dust from the floor that had collected on his purple bell-bottoms.

"We are going to send her soul to Earth in the form of a spectre, the same way that XANA does. Thanks to the book I found, I figured out exactly how he does it, which therefore should allow me to repeat the same process. Once her spectre is here on Earth, we have to get her to the hospital and into Aelita's room. Once she sees the empty shell of her own being, the spectre will bind itself to Aelita's comatose body…and… she will awaken." Jeremie softly said as a joyful tear slid out of his eye. He was so overcome with feelings of anxiety and excitement. It wouldn't be long now before he could hold Aelita in his arms again.

"That sounds easy enough," Yumi said with anticipation. "Let's go!"

"Wait," Jeremie said as he adjusted the glasses on his face. "It's not that simple…"

"Why? What's the catch?" Ulrich asked.

"Well… Aelita's state as a spectre is extremely vulnerable. Any little thing could end up re-virtualizing her back into Lyoko, and who knows if we'll be able to re-locate her if that happens. Not to mention, the super scanner is still down! I know there hasn't really seemed to be any attacks lately, but with all those ghostly encounters I've had, I wouldn't doubt that XANA already knows what we're trying to do… and he's not gonna let her go that easily. Someone has to stay in the scanner room and wait for her to appear, and then someone else has to wait by her hospital bed to make sure she gets back into her own body."

"I'll wait by her hospital bed," Odd eagerly volunteered. Jeremie glared and crossed his arms.

"Um… I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Well it's just… you… alone… in Aelita's room…"

"Come on," Odd scoffed with a look of betrayal in his eyes. "You seriously don't trust me?"

"Okay, let's not start this again," Yumi interrupted. "Ulrich and I will wait in the scanner room and then we will take her there when she arrives. Odd will wait in Aelita's hospital room and make sure she gets where she needs to be."

"Wait," Ulrich placed his hand on Yumi's shoulder, stopping her. "Look, Jeremie… It's not that I don't want to believe you, but… how can we really be sure you know what you're talking about? What if this is all just another hallucination that, in reality, is only going to hurt Aelita even more?"

Jeremie hung his head, a solemn look growing on his face. "You guys don't believe me anymore…"

"Jeremie, it's not like that," Yumi tried to console him, but he merely nudged her away as she walked over to him.

"Look, I'll even show you the book! Then you'll believe me for sure!" Jeremie jumped out of bed and yanked the drawer of the nightstand open, tossing the black book that lay inside over to Ulrich.

Ulrich sighed as he looked at the cover. "Jeremie…"

"What? Don't tell me you won't believe the hard evidence right in front of you!"

"Jeremie, this is The Bible," Ulrich corrected as he turned the book's title to face Jeremie. The glasses slid right off of his face.

"But… but!" He looked back in the drawer, but there was nothing else there. It wasn't on the floor, under the bed, or under the pillow, either. It was just there! How could a book disappear?

Yumi looked at the ground and softly exhaled. "Jeremie," she said. "I don't think you're ready to be let out of this room." Jeremie stared at her with hurtful eyes as they became glossed over with wetness. Every time he was inches away from Aelita, he was always ripped away. He tilted his head towards the ground, not muttering a single word.

"_You have to believe him!" _Aelita's voice cried out. Yumi shot her head towards the ceiling.

"Did… did anyone else hear that?" She fearfully inquired as she looked all around her. Ulrich also gave the same shocked expression, and Odd was gaping at the ceiling vent. Jeremie looked at all of them in their baffled state, pleased that they finally got to experience the same thing he did.

"Thank you, Aelita…" he whispered.

"_Help me!" _Aelita's voice once again cried out.

Ulrich turned to Jeremie. "Alright," he said, confidently. "Let's go."

"_Jeremie…" _Aelita asked as she walked to class, holding his hand.

"_Yes, Aelita?" _Jeremie loved how inquisitive she was. She was always asking questions, always craving knowledge.

"_Earlier, I heard Odd joke about Yumi and Ulrich doing something called getting married. I'm not really sure what that means, can you tell me?"_

Jeremie stopped in his tracks and turned to her, smiling at her curiosity. He took both of her hands into his and looked her in the eyes.

"_If you can wait a little while… I'll show you myself."_

"Alright guys," Jeremie ordered while adjusting his headset. "This is gonna be big. Are you ready?"

Ulrich looked over to Yumi, perched against one of scanners, who gave a thumbs-up. "We're ready, alright," Ulrich confirmed.

Odd, who had been placed on speakerphone back in the lab, had successfully snuck into Aelita's room past hours and was sitting next to her bedside. "Ready over here, too, Jeremie!" he said through his cellphone.

"Okay. I'm about to start the process!" Jeremie's body had become tense. He was scared, but also hopeful and ecstatic. Two months ago he felt his entire world crumble apart, and now he was about to pick up all of the pieces and put them back together like new. As his hands hovered over the keyboard, preparing to enter the codes, he closed his eyes and lowered his head before whispering a prayer to himself. "I know we don't talk often, but… if You can hear me… please, please let this work. Please don't let XANA destroy our chances of saving Aelita… Amen."

"Well, Jer? We're waiting," Yumi called down from the scanner room. Jeremie raised his head and, at a fast, confident start, rapidly typed in the coordinates and location commands that would find Aelita's soul.

"I've started it! Locating Aelita!"

Odd stared down at Aelita's calm, resting body. Her heart monitor was steady, each beep ringing throughout his ears. "We're coming, princess," he whispered to her, running his hand across her cold cheek.

The screen in front of Jeremie whirred and beeped as a map showed up, displaying the pink question mark that was exactly what he wanted to see. "Alright," Jeremie said. "We've found Aelita! Get ready guys, I'm about to run the process that will send her to Earth as a spectre!" Jeremie's hands were severely trembling as his fingers skidded across the keys. The excitement and suspense was overwhelming him, and he was seated on the very edge of his seat. "Don't worry, Aelita…" he tenderly spoke under his breath as he entered various commands into the interface. "I'm coming."

A new screen popped up which displayed a virtual image of Aelita's anatomy in a grid-like structure. The interface began to run several amounts of coding as the hollow shell of the virtual grid slowly filled up. Jeremie leaned as close as he could to the computer, staring intensely. The light from the screen shone directly into his retinas, burning his eyes. He refused to blink, though, afraid that even one millisecond of his eyes closed would make him mess something up.

"It's running!" Jeremie squealed. Ulrich and Yumi gave each other an eager high five and then crowded in front of the center scanner. The gazed at the closed doors deeply, waiting for the moment that the doors opened and Aelita's spectre entered the world.

Odd patiently waited by Aelita's bed, holding his phone against his ear to make sure he didn't miss anything. Suddenly, the lights in the room flickered. They briefly went out, overwhelming the room with darkness, before shooting back on. Odd caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure through the door, but it was gone within seconds. He began to shake with fear, and timidly spoke over the phone with a shaking voice.

"J…Jeremie…"

"What, Odd? What's wrong?"

"Do you remember when, before Aelita fell comatose, I said I had a bad feeling?

"Um, yeah… why?"

Odd stared at the door as a pair of glaring red eyes pierced into his soul before disappearing into the darkness of the hallway. "I've… I've got another one."

The color from Jeremie's face drained as he leaned back in his chair, staring aimlessly at the screen. The lights in the entire factory began to flicker. Jeremie straightened himself up and curiously looked around him, hoping that the intensity of the program was causing the flickering.

"Jeremie, is everything alright?" Yumi asked. From the scanner room, a vast amount of smashing and electrical charges could be heard below them. It sounded as if it was coming straight from the supercomputer. "There's something weird going on."

"I… I don't know…" Suddenly, the program stopped, and the screen began to spark. Jeremie gasped and grabbed at his hair. "WHAT? NO! THE PROGRAM!"

"Jeremie what is going on?!" Ulrich frightfully shouted as he heard the whirring sound of all the scanners powering down.

"Jeremie!" Odd cried through the speakerphone. "Jeremie, something is wrong!"

Back at the hospital, Aelita's heart monitor had gone crazy and her oxygen levels had dropped dramatically. Although comatose, she was wheezing and struggling to breathe.

"What's going on over there, Odd?" Jeremie dreaded over the headset.

Suddenly, the rapid beeping from Aelita's heart monitor ceased completely. She flatlined.

"AELITA!" Odd screamed. He dropped his phone to the ground and began to shout as loudly as he could, bursting through the door. "HELP! NURSE! SOMEBODY!"

"Odd?!" Jeremie cried, who had lost contact with the scrawny boy. "Odd! ODD! Oh, something isn't right!" Jeremie, who had become absolutely hysterical, brought up the window that displayed all the security cameras on set of the factory. He zoomed into the view of the supercomputer room, and felt his heart shatter into a million pieces.

XANA had sent a spectre to Earth. Thanks to the superscanner being down, nobody had known. The spectre had sabotaged and shut down the supercomputer right in front of Jeremie's eyes before quickly dispersing into thin air.

In the hospital, doctors rushed into Aelita's room before shoving Odd out of the way. He pulled up the cart which carried the defibrillators and nudged everyone around him to back up.

"CLEAR," he shouted as he pressed the defibrillators against Aelita's tiny chest, sending electrical impulses straight to her stale heart. Her body jumped off of the bed, pressing further against the shockers, but her heart monitor continued to moan one, solid tune. Odd stood back in the corner of the room and watched in horror. "CLEAR," the doctor ordered again. Nothing happened. "CLEAR!" One more time. Still, nothing. He continued to shock her, over and over again, until one of the nurses forced him to stop. It was no use. Tears fell from Odd's face and puddled onto the ground.

Jeremie threw his microphone headset onto the keyboard and jumped from the chair, running down to the supercomputer room. The computer was absolutely fried, electricity surging everywhere. He immediately ran up to it and flipped the lever to repower the computer, but at this point, it was too late. Aelita's heart had been stopped for too long. He ran up to the scanners to meet Ulrich and Yumi, who has still been left in the dark.

"Jeremie!" Yumi started, but the frantic and heartbroken young man quickly cut her off.

"TO THE HOSPITAL," he demanded. Ulrich and Yumi asked no questions.

"_Jeremie… I don't ever want this to end."_

"_Neither do I, Aelita… so it won't."_

"_So, that's what love is?"_

"_Yeah… that's what love is."_

"Jeremie, you've been in love before?! When, with who?"

"_Right now. She's standing right in front of me."_

"_We can start our own family someday."_

"_Loving someone is such a wonderful feeling."_

"_I had such a wonderful time tonight, Jeremie. Thank you for taking me on such a wonderful first date. I love you."_

"_I love you, Jeremie."_

"_I love you."_

"_I love you too, Aelita."_

"…_I love you."_

"AELITA!" Jeremie hysterically cried as he ran up to her room.

"I'm sorry honey but you can't come back here," a nurse sweetly ordered as she tried to hold him back. He shoved her hands off of him, running past her and busting through Aelita's door, nearly knocking it off of the hinges.

"AELITA!" He stopped inside the door frame. Odd sat by her bedside with a steady stream of tears flowing down his face.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Jeremie." He sobbed.

"But…no! She can't be!

Ulrich and Yumi quietly entered the room behind Jeremie. The room was dark and cold. A wave of sadness brushed upon everyone who stood in that very room. They all crowded around her bed, staring down at her. Yumi wiped her tears onto her black sweater, while Ulrich stared angrily at the damage XANA had caused.

"She is, Jeremie," Odd said in broken sentences as he choked back tears. "Even though we turned the supercomputer back on, her heart was stopped for too long… she's not gonna wake up, Jer. Not this time. Our only option now is to keep her on life support…but she won't come out of her coma that way, either."

"I…" Jeremie couldn't form sentences. He didn't know what to think or even to feel. The lump in his throat from the impending tears choked him so heavily he couldn't breathe. His chest hurt. It was as if he could feel his heart literally tearing into two pieces inside of him. Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich backed away to give Jeremie room. He leaned down against her chest, hearing nothing but silence. What once was the healthy beating heart of a beautiful, happy girl was now cold and awful silence.

"Ae…Aelita…" he lifted her off of the bed and cradled her in his arms as he slid down onto the floor. She lay peacefully in his arms, with her limbs slumped over her sides. The tears overflowed in Jeremie's eyes and scuttled down his face. Jeremie couldn't hold it in anymore. What he had been repressing for the past two months all erupted in one, emotional moment. He wailed and sobbed into Aelita's lifeless body, his cries filling the entire hospital. Jeremie rocked her back and forth as he continued to scream, her hospital gown becoming soaked with his tears. The rest just stood back and let him be. Ulrich held Yumi in his arms as she, too, sobbed into his chest. Odd buried his face into his hands, trying to hide from all that had gone wrong in such little time. Everything was planned out perfectly. Everything was supposed to go just as planned. Aelita was supposed to be rescued, but instead, she's gone forever.

XANA got what he wanted.

It was over.


	21. For Aelita

**SURPRISE! You all thought the story was over, didn't you? Well I know you are all very torn from the sudden harshness of the previous chapter, so I'd like to invite you all to read my newest Jerlita oneshot to give yourselves a break from the sadness. I promise this one is happy, even if it doesn't seem like it at points. It's called "The Proposal." Happy reading!**

Aelita's room is stale, along with their emotions. There is no warmth, there is no life. Silence fills the holes of their now empty hearts. There is no longer the high-pitched beeping of Aelita's heart monitor echoing throughout the room. There is no cheerful laughter from the curious girl, who still had so much to learn. Jeremie wasn't wrong when he said it felt like Aelita had so much to be taught in such little time… but alas, he had run out of time.

Her sheets had been sprinkled with tiny, wet drops that had fallen from the depths of Jeremie's eyes. They say the eyes are the window to the soul, but Jeremie's eyes had become the window to nothing more than vast blackness. It was over. His hopes, dreams and desires had all risen to an ultimate climax before being ripped right out of his very hands. He had failed, and was forced to watch the only thing in his life that had ever truly meant anything slip away for eternity. It really was over this time. There was no going back, no starting over. So close… yet so far away.

Jeremie's friends had attempted to comfort him, but to no avail. _"It's not your fault, Jeremie,"_ Yumi's voice echoes inside his head. "_You did your best…"  
_  
Jeremie didn't respond. There wasn't a single word in any language on Earth that could put his feelings into words. How does one describe the feeling of losing the most important thing in the world? How does one simply put in the past the girl you fought for every single day, the girl you even managed to free from her virtual prison?

You don't, that's how.

The very night her life slipped away, they all agreed to shut off the supercomputer. Jeremie pleaded against the wishes of his friends, but deep down inside he knew it was the right thing to do. Aelita was no longer around to deactivate the towers. She never would be again. As such, XANA would achieve victory in taking over the world if they didn't act fast. Jeremie walked up to the computer, shivering from the frigid air of the concrete room. He wrapped his skeleton like fingers around the heavy lever of the supercomputer, tightening his grip as fiercely has he'd like to on XANA's neck… if XANA had a neck, that is. Killing XANA for once and for all was Jeremie's method of closure. He looked back at his friends, who all gave a delicate nod, and he forced the switch into the 'off' position. The supercomputer whirred and buzzed as it powered down, sinking into the ground of the factory before being encased by a solid door that would shut it away from humanity… forever.

He kneeled down onto the ground, staring at the Eye of XANA that had been tattooed onto the solid flooring. From behind him he pulled a single tulip out of his pocket, similar to one he had picked for Aelita in their first few days of love. He placed it in the very center as tears welled in his eyes. One crystal drop fell from his face and onto one of the pink tulip's elusive petals, settling peacefully. Jeremie refrained from wiping it away, and quickly joined his friends in leaving the factory, an attempt to run away from the pain.

But the pain was going to follow him for the rest of his life.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Not once did Jeremie leave Aelita's side. He would curl up by her and talk to her as if she could still hear him, playing with her hair and telling her all about his day. Eventually, he stopped going to class, he stopped speaking to his friends; he wouldn't even answer his parent's calls when they tried to ask why he was failing. It was almost has if he had fallen off of the face of the Earth… along with Aelita. She had tubes trailing down her esophagus to keep her breathing, needles poked into every limb of her body. One wrong move and you would trip over her IV. Although a horrific sight to most, to Jeremie she was still the most beautiful thing on the planet.

"Hi Aelita," Jeremie whispered as he helped himself into her bed, just like he did every other day. He trailed his fingers along the creases of her ear and the defined lines of her jaw, nuzzling his head against her neck. Every time he did this, he expected the heat of her body to comfort him, but as usual was left with a hurtful shock from the stinging cold of her lifeless shell. "Do you remember the day we went to an amusement park together? And I bought you your first cotton candy. The look on your face as you felt it disintegrate inside your mouth was priceless. That was a fun day, huh Aelita?" Jeremie looked up at her, gazing into her deep slumber. The machines around Aelita that kept her legally alive softly hummed into the barrenness of her white chamber. He stared at the tubes that travelled down her arms, watching the liquid medicine trickle into her veins. Jeremie looked away from the machinery, for it brought him too much angst, and planted a subtle kiss upon her left temple while twirling her flippy, pink waves between his minute fingers. Tears welled up in his eyes as they did every single time he came to see her, and he laid on his back, staring at the roughened texture of the white ceiling above him. "I miss you, Aelita," he mumbled under his shaking breath. "I miss you _so_ much. Nobody will ever understand."

A punitive knock on the door jolted him out of his daze, and he sat up in her bed, staring at the entrance as the handle turned and a woman he had not seen in far too long walked inside. How long _had _it been? Jeremie couldn't even remember. It was almost as if he had forgotten they even existed. She walked up to him very solemnly, yet angry at the same time.

"Hi, Jeremie," Yumi said. She kicked at the ground while she folded her arms, her eyes travelling all around her surroundings in an attempt to avoid direct eye-contact.

"Hi," Jeremie replied. He stared in awe at her and how different she looked since he had last seen her. There was a hint of purple in her outfits now instead of her usual complete black attire, and her eyelids had been painted with a soft, sultry eye shadow that gave a smoky effect. When did Yumi start wearing make-up? It couldn't have been _that_ long. She almost looked even taller, and her shirt exposed more of her neckline and shoulder than her cut-off sweaters ever did. Jeremie cleared his throat and harshly blinked, before gaining enough stature to continue his sentence. "How are you?"

Yumi sighed, as if she was irritated that Jeremie had the nerve to ask how she was doing. "How am I doing?" The Japanese woman coldly replied. "Jeremie, do you even remember when the last time you spoke to me was? Or Ulrich, or Odd?"

"Well, uh," the distraught genius stuttered whilst scratching his head. To be honest, he hadn't the slightest clue. In his mind, the only thing that existed in this world was Aelita. "It couldn't have been that long, right?"

"It's been over six months, Jeremie."

"…Oh." The boy's eyes widened.

"Did you forget we existed or something?" Jeremie didn't respond. He merely stared at his lap, twirling his thumbs around.

"Yumi, why are you here?"

Yumi let her arms unfold and clash against her hips as she expelled a worry filled sigh. "You've got to go on, Jeremie," she pleaded.

"Can't go anywhere without Aelita."

Yumi sighed once again. She pushed her thumb against her temple, and let the rest of her fingers sit on her forehead. "Jeremie… look at yourself. When is the last time you even showered?"

A slightly confused Jeremie obliged her requests, gazing upon his battered body and filthy clothes. Sometimes he would use the shower in Aelita's hospital room, but not often. He looked back up at Yumi with hurt glossed over his eyes. She returned the same expression.

"Jeremie… Aelita wouldn't want this. She wouldn't want you to be shutting yourself away from the world like you are, sulking in a dark corner all day and pretending as if nothing else exists. You don't come to class anymore. You were the valedictorian, and now you're flunking. You never call us, you don't call your own parents and they are worried sick about you. Nobody knows what happened to you, and what's worse Milly and Tamiya have been harassing us every day since Aelita's dea-"

"Don't say it," Jeremie snapped as he glared darkly at Yumi.

"What?"

"That word… don't say it."

"Jeremie… this is exactly what I'm talking about."

Jeremie scowled, his lips pressing into a serious frown as he tightly shut his eyes and swung his head in the opposite direction of the concerned woman in front of him. He tried to pretend as if this wasn't happening, as if the only interaction he had with a friend in several months wasn't just one of forcefulness and offense. How could she just march in here and demand he move on? How dare she.

"Jeremie… we miss you. Do you remember life before this? We were inseparable. We hung out all the time; we would go out for ice cream and have sleep overs at my house… but everything we did was always interrupted by XANA. XANA is gone now, Jeremie… we've got a chance at a brand new life without him. A _real_ life."

Jeremie stubbornly sat on Aelita's bed, refusing to look at Yumi. His eyes became an ocean of despair as the tears snuck out of the tight creases of his shut eyelids. He opened his mouth to talk, yet no words came out. Yumi walked over to him and gently relaxed her hand on top of his tense shoulder.

"I know you miss her, Jeremie…"

Jeremie finally opened his eyes and turned towards Yumi. His wet cheeks glistened underneath the hospital's luminescent lighting. His eyes were coated with dark circles and sunken in, and his complexion had grown paler from locking himself away in Aelita's room. Yumi's eyes welled up as well as she looked over at the sleeping beauty on the bed, reminding herself once again that they had failed. Maybe if she and the others would have just heard Jeremie out, just once, things could have been performed in time. She quickly erased the images from her head; there was no use dwelling.

"Please, Jeremie. Do it for Aelita… you know she wouldn't be able to stomach seeing you like this."

Jeremie looked over at his beloved that once rested peacefully and happily in his arms, but now was confined to a cold and hard mattress. He remembered all the times she would scold him for staying up so late and never getting enough rest, refusing to take even one day off from his work. The memories of her deep concern and caring for him added a bit of spark to Jeremie's damaged heart, and although full of regret, he looked over at Yumi and nodded.

"For Aelita."


	22. Moving On

**(I'm not sure I ever addressed the time of year Aelita's demise took place. I do believe I mentioned it being Fall at some point during their relationship together. So let's just go ahead and say the tragic events took place in late Novemberish and so forth. Also, don't forget to look at my newest work, The Proposal, to give yourself a break from the tragedy ;) )**

Yumi begged for him to go on… and so that's exactly what Jeremie did.

Jeremie packed his things into his book bag one fateful evening while glancing over at his resting angel. He had his books, his computer, and even a few clothes to stuff away as he had, for the most part, moved into her hospital room. He zipped his bag up, threw it over his shoulder, and walked over to Aelita for one last time. Aelita had been comatose for almost a year, and at this point there was no shame in assuming things really were done for. Although Jeremie still kept a small glimmer of hope stowed away in the depths of his mind, his conscious was smart enough to let him know this was something that had to be done. A tear plummeted off of his face and onto Aelita's, trickling down her very own cheek.

"Well, Aelita," he choked as he fought back tears, tired of all the time he had wasted crying. "I guess this is… goodbye." He wiped the tear off of her cheek and brushed her hair out of her sleeping eyelids. Her hair had grown quite a bit since the day she had fallen into her slumber; it now reached just past her shoulders. "I love you Aelita, more than anything in this world, and nobody can ever replace you or be loved by me as much as you were. I miss you, and I promise I will never forget you."

He leaned down and planted one final kiss upon her silent lips that now had become dry and chapped from months of neglect. A steady stream flowed from his sorrowful eyes, but he quickly shook his feelings off and threw the other side of his book bag onto his other shoulder, walking towards the door. Before exiting, he stopped in the frame and mumbled under his breath, but refused to look back.

"We'll meet again someday, Aelita. Until next time…"

He smiled and left her room for the very last time, where his estranged friends were waiting for him. They happily took him into their arms. Jeremie was long past due for a real hug.

"_Goodbye, Jeremie."_

Jeremie snuck his eyes open as the others kept theirs shut and became lost in the moment, embracing in a group hug. He felt the softness of her whisper wrap around his ears, and it brought him relief and closure.

Although it was harder than anything else in this world; harder than materializing Aelita, harder than contacting Franz Hopper, and harder than trying to defeat XANA… he moved on. Not a single day passed where Jeremie didn't think about Aelita and hope and pray that something, anything, would bring her back, but he never kept his requests too high, and he never went back to her room. The rest of his days at Kadic quickly passed, and soon enough he was moving off into the real world, starting college. He had made a very meager attempt at keeping in contact with his friends, and soon enough their names had become a foreign language to them. Jeremie had picked up a double major in Accounting and Linguistics, and as such was completely loaded down nearly one hundred percent of the time. There weren't enough hours in in the day to complete his work, and there certainly wasn't a spare minute to send a call to Yumi, Odd or Ulrich.

Jeremie never even forgave Odd for the stunt he pulled several years ago. Although sometimes he thought of and missed Yumi and Ulrich, he never truly regretted losing contact with Odd. Their relationship remained tense for the rest of their life at Kadic, and although several attempts were made to re-bind them as friends, nothing really solved their issues. The days of their happy and playful bromance died along with Aelita; the memories remained inside coffins buried within the graves of Jeremie's mind.

One December afternoon, Jeremie was walking back to his dorm after an exhausting day of classes and, as usual, thought of Aelita. He smiled as the chilly wind nipped at his nose. Aelita graciously enjoyed cold weather because she loved being able to bundle up in her boots and scarves, but more importantly, because it gave her an excuse for Jeremie to hold her as tightly as he could. Although she didn't get to experience much of it during her time with Jeremie, she declared winter as her favorite season when she got a small taste of what it was like on an unusually cold September morning.

_"Jeremie!" _Aelita squealed as she hastily scuttled into his room, slamming the door behind her. Unprepared for the sudden drop in temperature, she had walked to her classes that day simply wearing a dress and ankle boots. Her fingertips and nose had become completely numb after running through the cold to Jeremie's bedroom, and her eyeballs felt as if they had frozen over.

_"What is it, Aelita? What's wrong?" _Jeremie was sitting at his computer desk and quickly turned around, slightly worried as to why Aelita was running into his dormitory so frantically.

Aelita's teeth chattered and she rubbed her hands up and down her arms, hoping the friction would warm her up. A sudden chill travelled up her spine, causing her to jump and let out a cute yelp that made Jeremie smile.

_"You're cold, aren't you?"_

Aelita stared at Jeremie, perplexed as her petite frame trembled slightly._ "Is that what this feeling is, Jeremie? Being cold? It's a strange sensation."_

_ "Yes, it's a reaction you get on account of lower temperatures… here; I know how to fix this." _Jeremie smirked and stood up, spreading his arms open wide. The shivering girl grinned and happily obliged, running towards him and burrowing herself into the warmth of his embrace. She smiled as the heat that radiated off of his body overwhelmed her, making her feel as if she was melting into him. Jeremie tightened his grasp on her, holding her as close as he could to himself.

As Aelita comforted in being encased by Jeremie's love, she snuggled into his shirt and allowed herself to inhale his scent deeply. He wasn't one to wear cologne or anything fancy, but he did happen to use a fragrant shower gel that Aelita found absolutely ravishing. She would take in his attar every opportunity she had. It consoled and relaxed her, reminding her of Jeremie's feelings towards her. Anything bad could happen and she would immediately be solaced by the simple essence of his delightful smell travelling through her nose.

"_Are you feeling any warmer yet?" _

"_Yes Jeremie, thank you," _Aelita courteously replied as she beamed up at him, gazing into his sparkling blue eyes that hid behind the crystal windows of his glasses.

"_Are you sure, Aelita? Because if you're still cold, I wouldn't mind holding you longer…"_

Jeremie smiled at the memory as he turned the key to his room, walking inside and throwing his bag onto the floor. He immediately locked his door behind him. Although most of the individuals on his floor would leave their doors propped open to invite others in, Jeremie always kept himself crammed away in his room. He didn't really know anyone on his floor, nor did he care to become acquainted. Jeremie opened the lid of his computer up and powered it on, preparing for another rough day of completing coursework. It was times like these that he wished more than anything Aelita was still around to help him relax, and remind him that he didn't need to stress himself so much.

It had been years… but still, every day without her was harder.

Jeremie fumbled through his desk, looking for the notebook that contained the material he needed for his Advanced Accounting course. There was so much junk in his drawers, he certainly had let himself go in terms of organization. As he tossed seemingly useless papers aside, a small fragment of a page fell to the ground. Surprised, Jeremie stared at the paper on the ground for a moment before picking it up. The fragile, delicate feel of the page in his hands was all too familiar, and upon flipping it over the coding scribbled onto it brought painful flashbacks to his head and jabbed at his heart.

"How… how did this get here?" he stuttered, his glasses sliding down his nose as he began to sweat with suspense. The Book of XANA disappeared the day that he lost Aelita for good, along with the missing page, and Jeremie certainly didn't remember finding it and taking it along with him. What's more, he hadn't experienced an auditory or visual hallucination since the day he stopped going to visit Aelita. All that proved was that the paper he was holding in his hand was most certainly real.

There was another piece of paper sitting on the ground that had snuck underneath the missing page of XANA's book. This one was much smaller, and the edges were worn and frayed. He picked it up, slowly flipped it over to gaze at it's contents, and felt more jabbing into his heart as it pounded against his rib cage, begging for release. It was a photograph. Jeremie's eyes welled up.

In the picture, Jeremie was standing in the very middle with his hands wrapped around Aelita's as they stood next to each other. She was leaning in and giving him a peck on the cheek, while Jeremie nervously smiled underneath the beet red shade that covered his face. Odd stood next to Jeremie, leaning against him as if he were a shoulder rest, with Kiwi buried in his free arm. Yumi and Ulrich stood on the opposite side of Aelita. Ulrich blushed along with Jeremie as Yumi playfully pinched him and waved at the camera. They all stood happily, enjoying each other's company. The picture brought back all of the memories Jeremie had attempted to hide away, and the stinging sensation ran throughout his entire nervous system. Tears dripped from his eyes and onto the snapshot, staining the worn and faded photo.

"_So, Jeremie…" _Aelita's voice echoed inside his head as he painfully stared at the photo. Although it hurt him like no other, for some reason he couldn't get himself to turn away. _"That's what love is?"_

"_Yeah, Aelita… that's what love is."_

Jeremie became angry. He screamed in rage and ripped the photo in half, letting the shreds sprinkle onto the ground. For years he had repressed the torment of previous events and everything came rushing back to him because of one, stupid photo. He became enraged with himself, thinking over and over again about how he had failed Aelita, his friends and last of all himself. He threw his fist against the wall, the thundering bang rumbling through the entire floor. He panted heavily as the ire that had taken over his body began to subside, and looked out the window that had now been coated with the fluffy residue of Winter's first snow.

"_Jeremie! Look!" _Aelita yipped, pointing out the window in delight. The white substance gently tumbled down from the sky, planting onto the ground and coating the once green grass of Kadic's campus in a plentiful sheet of powdered ice. Jeremie walked up to the window, peering outside along with her as she cheerfully observed the snowfall. _"This must be… snow!"_

Jeremie smiled at her, returning her assumption with a slight nod. She appeared so ecstatic over the flurries. It was a new sensation, a wonderful part of Earth that she had yet to encounter.

"_Do you want to go outside?" _He suggested, knowing she would more than love too. Aelita eagerly nodded her head, grabbing her coat off of his bed and throwing it on. Jeremie threw on his jacket, wrapped his blue scarf around his neck, and chased after her as she darted out of his door.

As Aelita stepped outside, a strong wind blew and bit her ears and nose. It was so cold outside that it was painful, but Aelita wasn't going to pass up playing in her first snow. She took a step into the white blanket strewn across the ground, feeling it crunch beneath her boots. She removed her foot and stared at the print left behind, thoroughly observing the detail of her soles left behind in the snow. It interested her deeply, and she started prancing through the snow, turning around to stare at her footsteps. Aelita stared up at the sky. It was solid grey and gloomy, a brilliant new sight compared to the clear blue skies and fluffy white clouds she was mostly used to seeing. She watched the white flakes spin downwards from the atmosphere, coating her pink ruffled hair and melting against her warm skin as it brushed against her face. The familiar crunching sound of footsteps trailing into the snow approached her from behind, and she turned around to be met by Jeremie.

"_It's cold out," _Jeremie stuttered as he grabbed his arms and shivered.

"_I know," _Aelita agreed. _"It's wonderful." _

"_Maybe for you. It's not usually this cold in November, this is weird."_

Aelita shrugged his words off, becoming too wrapped up in all the wonderful sensations of a snowfall. She tilted her head towards the sky and stuck her tongue out of her mouth, letting the drops of slush trickle onto the muscle and melt. The plain taste of the icy water satisfied her, with her own contentment being enough to keep her warm out in the frigid air. Aelita was suddenly startled by the feeling of something hitting her, followed by a sharp pain of stinging cold against her back. She turned around and saw Jeremie shooting her a mischievous grin while bundling a ball of snow inside his palms.

She dodged as Jeremie threw the second snowball at her, plummeting into the snow as she returned his gestures. She eagerly rolled the snow in her grasp and flung it at Jeremie, barely hitting him in the shoulder.

"_You throw like a girl," _he innocently teased.

"_So do you!" _Aelita retorted. Jeremie blinked in response, before charging towards her. Aelita was taken aback, not sure whether to run or not. Her train of thought was cut off by Jeremie tackling her to the ground as he squealed with laughter. Aelita giggled just as much as he did, if not more. They lay in the snow for a moment, letting the drops of liquid ice plummet around them and slowly build up. Aelita stared at Jeremie's glasses that had become heavily fogged up from the warmth of his body against the cold temperatures. She smiled up at him, blinking rapidly as drops of snow caked onto her eyelashes and blurred her vision. The temperature couldn't have been any more than 20 degrees, but the heat that transmitted from each other kept them cozy in the layers of snow. Jeremie nuzzled his nose against hers, barely being able to feel her touch as both of their faces had become numb. The freezing boy took advantage of his situation, leaning towards Aelita and caressing his lips against hers. She happily relaxed her body and wrapped her arms around him, and they both lay there in the frozen Earth, completely happy.

Jeremie clutched his fist, his knuckles reddened and throbbing. He looked at the shreds of the photograph scattered across his floor. One piece had ripped perfectly around Aelita's face and upper torso. He picked it up from the ground and smiled at it, thankful that the most important part of the photo had been salvaged.

He pinned it to the billboard that sat above his desk, leaving something beautiful to see every time he sat down at his computer to do something he dreaded.


	23. A New Life

**Still not over! :) **

Jeremie's daily routine became melancholy. First, he would drag himself out of bed, his heavy eyes becoming blinded as the early morning sun settled onto the carpet of his room. After wrestling with his messy hair and throwing on a sloppy outfit, he would walk out the dorm and reluctantly slog his feet to his classes. He was always so exhausted. Things had not changed much since high school. After class, he would walk back to his room and lock himself away for the rest of the night until it was time to leave once again for more courses. Through snow, sunshine, rain and wind, Jeremie would trot across campus with the soothing voice from the recollections of Aelita to guide him. The happy little photograph of his guardian angel remained pinned to the billboard that hung above Jeremie's desk. Her bright smile brought light into the darkness of Jeremie's mediocre world.

As the years rolled on, things did, in fact, get easier for Jeremie. His senior year quickly came to a close, the memories of Yumi, Ulrich and Odd long behind him. He received his accounting degree with a 4.0 average, to no surprise, graduating at the top of the Dean's list. On Jeremie's final day of classes, he spent the day packing away, preparing to move into the apartment he had just leased. An internship he had participated in during his final year of school landed himself an excellent start in his career, and once he was settled into the city he would attend his first day of work.

He scrambled through his desk, cleaning any residue of his sloppy, unorganized work. Blankets from his bed had been folded and put away, any dishes and excess food carefully packed into a box, and all of his clothes thrown from his closet and into a laundry bag. It took nearly the entire day to make sure everything from his dorm was packed in way that would be easy for him to later recognize the contents as he relocated into his apartment. Jeremie was more than happy to be moving out into the real world. He had spent almost his entire life cooped up inside a tiny dorm room, starting at Kadic Academy and then at his University. Several trips up and down the stairs moving his things along, and he was finally about to lock his door for the last time.

The socially awkward adolescent that had now matured into a young man closed the door and turned the lock, ready to hand in the keys to his resident assistant as he saluted him farewell. Unknowingly to Jeremie, the photo of Aelita had been left behind on the very same billboard that it had sat, untouched, for four years.

Without the photo to remind him of her beauty and essence on a daily basis, Jeremie soon stopped thinking of her altogether. There were no more voices, no flashbacks, and he had not one single photo of her to look back on. The memories soon faded, blowing away far into the past like dust in the wind. The pain he had suffered from feeling his heart ripped out of his very chest made it difficult to dwell on the events that caused such torture. It was easy to put Aelita in the past now and repress everything that had happened. Eventually, he even forgot her name.

One fateful day in July, Jeremie was walking home from his place of employment. There was a delicious little café he loved to stop at before work to get an early morning boost, and sometime he would visit after as well for a quick lunch. The sun was shining brightly onto the city, blistering heat radiating from its smoldering rays. Wiping sweat off of his brow, he decided to take this day to stop in the café and cool down in the crisp, cool air conditioning. Any time he stepped inside a cold building, or whenever the winter months started to creep around the corner, a cheerful laughter would echo through his ears, followed by the cooing of his own name. Jeremie never could understand why this happened, or who the voice belonged to.

The intelligent young man, sharply dressed in one of the business suits he wore to work, approached the woman at the counter whom he had become well acquainted with over the past year of his daily visits to the café. They were on a first name basis, and she happily greeted him as he walked in, already knowing what he wished to order. They exchanged friendly conversation as she rang him up, and politely waved goodbye as he went to sit at the table, waiting for his meal. Jeremie took a sip of the hot chocolate he had ordered while connecting his laptop to the coffee bar's free WiFi, attempting to observe the stock markets he had been assigned to watch for the evening. As he peered up from the tip of his computer's lid, he noticed a small, young woman gazing back at him.

She sat at the table opposite of him, a petite girl in her mid-twenties who couldn't be any taller than 5'2. She smiled at him as she noticed his dazzling blue eyes looking over at her. Her snowy white grin enhanced the entire café, and her beautiful green eyes stared directly into Jeremie's soul. Her hair was an extravagant, lively red that glistened almost pink underneath the shop's bright lights. Everything about her; her stature, frame, hair, eyes and facial structure, reminded Jeremie of someone that he sensed used to mean something very much to him with the way his heart pounded as he laid eyes on her. She looked so excruciatingly familiar… but Jeremie couldn't figure out exactly who she reminded him of. He just felt that he had seen her before, somewhere…

The girl then broke the awkward silence that had developed between them.

"Are you going to keep staring at me like that, or are you going to say something?" She teased. Jeremie blushed at the response, before clearing his throat and walking over to her to introduce himself.

"Hi," he nervously replied. "I'm Jeremie." The woman innocently smiled back.

"Andrea," she introduced, offering up a handshake. Jeremie took a seat next to her and they chatted for a good while, becoming lost in the conversation. They teased, laughed, flirted and giggled like school children. It was almost as if he had fallen in love with her at first sight. Before long, Jeremie and Andrea would meet at the café every single day, before and after work. They would talk about each other's days and just trifle for hours. Once Jeremie got her phone number, he would call her every single night, even if only for a few seconds just to be able to hear her comforting voice. The way she spoke soothed Jeremie completely, and always consoled him on days he was beyond stressed out from work. The way Jeremie felt about Andrea sparked some sort of familiarity in him. He didn't know why, but everything he experienced with this ravishing young woman felt like Déjà vu to him. He tried not to dwell on it too much.

Things became serious in almost not time. Within three months of dating, they had already moved in together. Six months of dating, and a beautiful diamond was sitting on her ring finger. Things progressed rather quickly, and although others gave looks that wondered why they were moving so fast, the face felt completely perfect to Jeremie… because he felt as if he knew Andrea for years, when in reality he had just met her seven months ago.

"_Jeremie…" _The familiar voice that occasionally haunted Jeremie whispered into his ears. The voice sounded _so _much like Andrea's, but only a teeny bit more juvenile… almost as if it were what Andrea's voice would have been like as a child. Jeremie, dressed in the same suit he wore to work every Tuesday, was approached by a teenage girl who wore an outfit consisting of only pink. Magenta jumpsuit, pale pink hoodie, hot pink boots, and of course, pink hair. Natural? Who on Earth had naturally pink hair? Although, now that Jeremie thought of it, Andrea's hair was pretty close to pink, and hers was natural. The girl slowly approached Jeremie, and it almost scared him.

"_Who are you?"_He asked.

_"You don't remember me?" _The girl appeared extremely hurt. She stared down at the ground, crossing her arms as tears dripped down her cheeks.

"_What's wrong? Why are you crying?"_

"_You've forgotten me, Jeremie. You promised me you'd never forget me."_

"_How can I forget someone I never knew? Hey, how do you even know my name?"_

"_Jeremie, will you do me a favor?"_

"_Umm… depends. If I'm doing someone a favor, I'd like to know exactly who they are, first."_

"_Wake up."_

"_Huh?"_

"_Wake up, Jeremie. Please."_

"_But I'm not…"_

Jeremie sat up in his bed, baffled at the strange incident that had just occurred inside his head. He turned on the light that sat upon the night stand next to him, glancing at the clock that read 2 A.M. He felt rustling next to him, and Andrea rolled over and gazed up at him, wondering why he was awake.

"You okay?" She soothingly asked.

"Yeah, I just had a weird dream…"

"Oh yeah? About what?"

"I dunno. There's this weird girl dressed in all pink that keeps talking to me about how I've forgotten her. It's been going on for a week or so now… and every time, right before I wake up from the dream; she's like begging me to wake up. Crazy, huh?"

Gentle snores erupted from the bundle of blankets next to Jeremie. Andrea had already fallen back asleep, and so Jeremie shut off the lamp and joined her in her slumber.

Soon enough, the big day had arrived where Jeremie was nervously straightening his tie in front of the vanity mirror. His three best men, friends from work, patted him on the shoulder and tried to reassure him everything would be okay. He took his spot on the steps at the altar, heavily sweating with anxiety underneath the thick tuxedo he was dressed up. He felt his body tense up and tremble and he attempted to wiggle his toes inside the stiff dress shoes that felt two sizes far too small. He took deep breaths as the traditional piano music began to play, watching his soon to be bride trot down the red carpet. The wedding was small, with only family members, some of Andrea's best friends, and a few of Jeremie's co-workers attending. She met Jeremie at the altar, and the two beamed immensely at each other as the pastor read off the vows.

For some reason, Jeremie couldn't explain why, but the very moment he spoke the famous words "I do," he pictured the young, pink haired girls face instead of Andrea's.

Their new life together started out perfect. The first year was spent with just the two of them, and in all honestly that was all Jeremie would ever need. He enjoyed Andrea's company and never wanted anything more. He loved coming home from a stressful day at work to be greeted by her gentle touch caressing his tense muscles, and she loved to have the favor returned when she came home from her job at the café with aching feet. Of course though, a new addition to the family was soon eagerly awaited when Andrea woke up one morning feeling terribly ill. Although thought to be the flu at first, she was both quickly and thankfully proven wrong with one simple test.

The nine months progressed rapidly, something Jeremie was extremely grateful for. Although he loved his gorgeous wife more than anything in this world, she soon became impossible to deal with. Even a simple peck on the cheek would piss her off, and she was always so uncomfortable. It hurt Jeremie to see her in pain all the time, but he knew the suffering they both experienced would well be worth it in the end. Once they found out they were going to be blessed with an adorable baby girl, they spent the last 4 months every day searching for names and shopping for anything girly. Pink clothes, pink blankets, pink stuffed animals, the entire nursery was painted pink… Andrea had gone absolutely pink crazy. It was her favorite color, after all. The name search, however, was no success. Over twenty different baby books, online articles, thousands and thousands of names… and not a single one appealed to either of them. The due date was fast approaching, and the nerve wrecked couple became frantic as they realized they still didn't have a name.

Andrea was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night when her water had finally broken after an extra week of agony than what was originally predicted. The labor was long and gruesome, but finally, the beautiful baby girl of Jeremie and Andrea was brought into the world. Jeremie had never felt happier in his life as he squeezed Andrea's hand and kissed her on the forehead, watching his offspring produce the first cry of life.

"Look at her hair, Jeremie!" Andrea squealed as the doctors walked away with the baby to clean her up. Jeremie's jaw almost completely detached from his face. It was… pink! It wasn't red, it wasn't blonde, it was 100% pink. How was that even possible?

The voice of the pink haired girl that visited Jeremie in his dreams whispered into the air of the hospital. Jeremie looked around the room, puzzled. The Déjà vu coursed through his veins again, leaving him feeling as if he had once before sat in this same exact chair, by this same exact bed in the same exact hospital. His eyes widened as he stared at the door of the room. His own voice echoed inside of his head.

"_We'll meet again someday, Aelita… until next time."_

"So," the nurse said as she brought the drooling bundle of joy over to Andrea. "Do you have a name for her?"

"Oh, no!" Andrea gasped, almost completely forgetting about naming their daughter. Jeremie snapped out of his daze and looked over at Andrea.

"Yes," Jeremie replied.

"We do?" She asked, not remembering ever having finally chosen one.

Jeremie looked at the fragile infant and her brilliant pink locks as she squirmed and cooed in her bundle of blankets, reaching her fingers up to her mother. He smiled and leaned over, letting the baby wrap all of it's tiny fingers around Jeremie's index finger.

"Aelita."


	24. Headlights

"Sweetheart," Andrea called to her husband. "What's all this?"

Jeremie walked over to her side, kneeling down next to her as he rummaged through the box of old trinkets she had discovered. After little Aelita had been born, they decided it was time to move out of the crowded apartment and into a real house.

"Wow," Jeremie gasped. "These are all things from high school!" Andrea watched her husband in wonderment as he eagerly browsed all of his old notebooks and keepsakes from his days at Kadic Academy. Buried at the very bottom of the box was a dusty old album of sorts that had no title scripted on it. Jeremie carefully took it into his grasp and blew away the dust that coated the aged, hardback cover of the album.

"What's that?" Andrea inquired, becoming extremely curious to the remnants of her husband's forgotten past.

"I think it's a photo album," Jeremie responded as he slowly opened the album, revealing it's contents. Yes, it was a photo album, and Jeremie's eyes enlarged to the size of a grapefruit upon seeing the very first photo. It was a group photo of Yumi, Ulrich, Odd and Jeremie, and of course Kiwi. "Wow…"

"Are those your friends from high school?"

Jeremie didn't respond. All he could do was stare and let the memoirs overwhelm his mind as he cautiously flipped through the album. Photos of Odd playing with Kiwi, or Kiwi biting at Ulrich's pant legs as he tried to shoo him away. There were photos of Yumi trying to snatch Odd's tamagotchi from him, and a silly picture of Jeremie asleep on his keyboard with Ulrich and Odd posing behind him. There was even a sneak attack shock of Yumi and Ulrich holding hands on a bench that Odd had tactfully snapped a picture of, unknowingly to them.

"Woah!" Andrea shouted, pointing to the final photo framed in the last, plastic page of the album. "What is _that?"_

Isolated on the very last page was a picture of the supercomputer as Jeremie, Yumi, Odd and Ulrich crowded around it to shut it off for the very last time. Although one of their saddest moments in history, it was also memorable, and they wanted to capture it so that they could never forget the battle between XANA and the Lyoko warriors.

"Andrea…" Jeremie started, looking over at his wife as she stared upon him with eyes glossed over in curiosity. "There's something about my past that I never told you about."

About an hour later, Andrea was sitting in the reclining chair with her knees pulled up to her chest, slightly glaring at her husband in disbelief as he wrapped up the story of his days with Lyoko, Franz Hopper, the supercomputer and XANA.

"So, you mean to tell me that there was some sort of evil virus trying to take over the world by means of a virtual reality created by some mad scientist, and you defeated it by yourself?"

"No, not alone. I had the help of the friends you saw in those photos earlier. Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich. Actually, at one point, there was another kid named William involved, but that backfired massively."

"How so?"

"Well he got possessed by XANA and became trapped on Lyoko. So for several months I had a clone of him running to fill in his missing spot in the real world."

"You made a clone of him?"

"Well, yeah. I had clones of Odd at one point, too. That was an accident though. Oh and I made a clone of myself!"

Andrea burst out in laughter. She cackled incessantly while clutching her sides, tears streaming down her face from the painful hilarity.

"What? What's so funny?"

"You honestly expect me to believe all this?"

"Well… yeah," Jeremie quietly said as he twiddled his thumbs and looked down at the floor. "It's true," he innocently assured, peeping back up at Andrea who had finally calmed down.

"Okay," she said as she wiped the remaining drops from her eyes. "What about that other girl? You didn't say anything about her."

"What other girl?"

"This one." Andrea pulled a photo out of her back pocket and handed it to Jeremie. His heart started thrashing against his ribs as he laid eyes on the couple in the photo, although he couldn't explain why.  
"It was in a totally separate book inside that box. I was going to ask about it but then you distracted me with your crazy story about virtual worlds and maniacal viruses."

The vintage photograph that sat in Jeremie's palm was taken at a photobooth when he was only about 12 years old. He was giddy with laughter in the photo, making funny faces as he pulled his eyelids open. The girl next to him was the same one that visited Jeremie in his dreams and whispered in his ears. She had the same pink hair, the same pink outfit, and was just as happy as Jeremie was as she giggled at the camera while wearing Jeremie's glasses.

"Was she your girlfriend?" Andrea asked.

"This is the same girl that keeps appearing in my dreams at night. I don't know who she is…"

"You don't remember her at all?"

Jeremie shook his head.

"Weird, well she mustn't have been very important then if you can't remember her at all."

"I guess not."

The shrill cries of baby Aelita erupted from the other room, snapping Jeremie out of his musing. He attempted to get up, but Andrea merely pushed him back down.

"I'll take care of it." She left the room to go console her daughter, and Jeremie remained knelt down on the floor, staring at the photograph that seemed to bring back so many memories he couldn't even recall.

A knock on his front door distracted him, and he let the photo fall to the ground as he scuttled up from the floor to answer it.

"Hello?" He asked, swinging the door open.

"Hi! I live next door to you. I just wanted to welcome you to the neigh- Oh my _God…"_

"…Yumi?"

And thus, Jeremie received the shock of a lifetime. His next door neighbor was his one and only long lost friend, Yumi Ishiyama. She hadn't changed much, if it all. Still dressed in the same black attire, with her midnight, pin straight hair still sitting above her shoulders. She hadn't even developed any wrinkles.

"Jeremie!" Yumi cried out in bliss, embracing him in a long overdue hug. It was as if fate had brought them back together.

"Who was at the door, darling?" Andrea called as she stood in the doorframe that led to the kitchen, cradling their sleeping child in her arms. Yumi broke the hug between her and Jeremie, looking past his shoulder and gawking upon the thin, young woman with alluring hair that looked practically pink, and twinkling emerald eyes.

"Ae…Aelita?" Yumi choked, speechless with incredulity.

Andrea raised an eyebrow as she looked down at her newborn daughter. "Why… yes, how did you know my daughter's name?"

That, however, was not the answer Yumi was expecting. She became mystified; her brow tightened and her eyes widened.

"I'm sorry." Jeremie interrupted the perplexing moment apologetically. "How rude of me to not introduce you to my wonderful wife, Andrea. Andrea, this is one of my friends you saw in that photo earlier, Yumi. Apparently, she is our new next door neighbor! What a small world, huh?"

"Hello," Yumi kindly waved.

"And that is my new three-week-old daughter, Aelita." Jeremie nudged towards the bundle in Andrea's arms.

"Jeremie," Yumi exhaled as a smile grew on her face. "That's so sweet of you to name your daughter after Aelita. I'm really happy you were finally able to move on…"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Yumi took a step back from Jeremie, as if his words of confusion almost stabbed her in the heart. "Um… Aelita! That's who you named your daughter after, isn't it?"

"Yumi… I've never known anyone named Aelita."

"You… You remember Lyoko, right? The supercomputer? XANA?!"

"Of course! How could I ever forget something that was such a huge part of my life for such a long time?"

"Aelita was just as big a part of your life… if not bigger. I can't believe you don't remember her! Franz Hopper's daughter? Trapped in Lyoko? You materialized her onto Earth! You don't remember _any_ of that?!"

"I… well, no…"

"Oh my God. I cannot believe this. Oh my God…" Yumi collapsed into the chair that was closest to her, rubbing her temples as she shook her head in disbelief.

"Hang on," Andrea bent down to pick up the photograph that had fallen onto the wooden floor and handed it to Yumi. "Is the girl in this picture this Aelita girl you're talking about?"

"Yes," Yumi instantly replied upon taking one quick glance at the photo. "Jeremie… you seriously have absolutely no recollection of this girl at all?"

"No…"

Yumi thought for a good moment. She looked down at the baby, who let out a weak, high pitched yawn as she scrunched her chubby face and tiny fists. Her head of thin, pink strands glimmered under the lighting of the house.

"She looks _just_ like her," Yumi complimented. "Andrea… would you mind if Jeremie and I took a walk?"

"What?" Jeremie twisted his head around, glaring at Yumi. "I can't leave Andrea alone with Aelita!"

"Yes you can," Andrea reassured. "I'm sure you have a lot of catching up to do. Go ahead, I don't mind."

"But…"

"Nope," Andrea shushed, pressing her index finger against his lips. "Go on. I'll be fine here alone, I promise." She pushed on his shoulders, forcing him out of the door, and slammed it behind him.

"Come on, Jeremie," Yumi said as she swung her arm around his shoulder. "We're going to take a trip down memory lane."

"So…" Jeremie slid into the passenger seat of Yumi's car, buckling his seatbelt. "What about the others? Do you keep in touch with them?"

"Well, you remember Ulrich, right?"

"Of course."

Yumi smiled and held her left hand in front of Jeremie, revealing the set of silver rings that decorated her finger.

"Oh, no way!" Jeremie grinned, watching the diamond twinkle into his irises. "I mean, it's not like none of us saw it coming, anyways."

Yumi softly chuckled, but something else was on her mind. "So… if you don't remember Aelita… does that mean you don't remember why you and Odd stopped being friends?"

"I didn't know we stopped being friends… I thought we just lost contact."

"No, you pretty much hated each other's guts."

"What? Why?"

Yumi sighed deeply, not wanting to make Jeremie relieve everything he had repressed so well, going to extreme lengths to make sure he would never be able to think of such events ever again.

"Okay… let me start from the beginning. You do remember Franz Hopper, the creator of Lyoko, right?"

"Yes."

"He had a child, a daughter. Aelita."

Jeremie stared at Yumi, listening intently as she continued her story.

"And you remember the men in black?"

"Yes."

"They pursued not only Franz, but his daughter as well. In an attempt to escape, he virtualized both himself _and _Aelita onto Lyoko. That's when XANA became too powerful, and Franz had to shut down the supercomputer. He became prisoner, and XANA stole all of Aelita's memories. Are you following?"

Jeremie nodded.

"When you started up the computer for the first time, that's when you met Aelita. You thought she was just a virtual being at first. Over time, we learned she was actually human. And as such, that meant it was possible to bring her to Earth. You succeeded in doing so, of course, but XANA wasn't willing to let go of Aelita that quickly. He infected her with a virus that bound her to Lyoko… meaning that even though Aelita was here on Earth, we couldn't shut down the computer without killing her."

"Wait… but we did shut off the computer, didn't we? Didn't we beat XANA?"

"No… no, not exactly. If anything… XANA beat us."

"What?" Jeremie said, exasperated. Everything in his own mind told him that there was no Aelita, never anyone other than Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, and Hopper, and that XANA had successfully been defeated and the computer was shut down as a result. Now, after a decade of no interaction with anyone from his past, all of a sudden one of his friends shows up and tells him his entire life is a lie.

Yumi sighed once again. She kept her eyes on the road, but her eyes had become polished with sadness. Her facial expression told Jeremie she really didn't want to continue the story, but had to. There was silence for a good moment, until the car finally stopped as Yumi parked on the side of a bridge.

"You're just going to park in the middle of this road?"

"Take a closer look, Jeremie. Nobody is going to be driving around here."

Jeremie peered out the window, finding himself looking over the murky waters that lie below the abandoned factory the warriors once visited on a daily basis.

"What… what are we doing here?"

"Come on," Yumi demanded as she unbuckled her seatbelt and led herself out of her vehicle. Jeremie sat in his seat, watching her walk towards the factory's entrance. Eventually, he convinced himself to exit the car and follow behind Yumi. They slid down the ancient cables that still hung firmly from the ceiling and hustled into the elevator. Yumi slapped her palm against the button, and the rusty doors slowly forced themselves closed.

"Are you going to finish your story or not, Yumi? You didn't tell me much about Aelita."

"Just wait."

The crumbling and creaking from the tarnished elevator cart skidded against the metal exterior, piercing Jeremie's ears during the sluggish and agonizing ride. Finally, the doors opened themselves, revealing the bare chamber that once housed the vibrant super computer.

"Go on," Yumi gently commanded. Jeremie took a quick look at her, before obeying her orders and stepping out of the elevator. The frigid atmosphere nipped at his nose and ears, and his footsteps echoed against the stone floor of the empty room.

"There's nothing in here," the cautious young man pointed out as he stepped in the very center of the room, right over the eye of XANA plastered onto the floor. He placed his hands on his hips and spun his eyes all around the cavity, looking for something that would tell him why Yumi brought him here. Nothing.

"Look down by your feet, Jeremie."

Jeremie obliged. There was an antique, wilted tulip resting by his left foot. The once radiating shade of pink had faded into an almost grotesque brown, the stem and leaves crystalized into a fragile, solid, fossil-like state. He knelt down to the ground and oh so tenderly lifted the dead flower into his palms, feeling the rough texture of the extinct leaves crunch in-between his fingers. He gazed up at Yumi underneath the oversized frames of his glasses.

"You put that tulip there yourself the night that Aelita died."

The delicate, lifeless flower fell from Jeremie's grasp. The rustling of it's texturized stem scratching against the cold floor bounced off of the hollow's solid walls.

"D… died?"

"You were absolutely crazy about her, Jeremie. That's why I can't believe you've completely forgotten about her, and it's why I felt like I had to take you here today. To try and help you remember. You were _so_ in love with her, Jeremie. They called her Mrs. Einstein. You could have denied it all you wanted, but everyone, including Aelita, saw it. You spent almost every waking moment together."

"What… um, what… happened to her?"

"XANA got what he wanted. You tried to get an anti-virus to free her from Lyoko so we could get rid of XANA once and for all, but he bugged up the virus and essentially kidnapped her virtual self as you implanted the virus. Her physical body was left here on Earth, an empty shell of her being. Comatose."

"But… a coma doesn't always equal death."

"Well, no, it doesn't and you sure kept telling yourself that… but you started losing your mind, Jeremie. Literally losing it. You were hallucinating all the time, hearing her voice and seeing her everywhere. You never slept, not even a wink, because you kept having nightmares. And then, one day, well… XANA managed to sabotage the computer behind our backs, which temporarily shut it down... long enough for Aelita to lose so much oxygen to her brain that she was pronounced legally dead, even if still comatose. The point was that she was never going to wake up."

Jeremie stared at the crippled tulip in front of him. He felt confused and hurt, but also in denial. This was too much for him to take in. There was no way he would have forgotten all of that.

"And, once that happened… well, you were gone, too. We didn't even recognize you anymore. You were just so-"

"Shut up, already!" Jeremie snapped as he furiously sprang up from the ground.

"I…" Yumi choked, not sure as to why he had suddenly become so angry.

"You _HONESTLY _expect me to believe all of this? I haven't seen you in what, ten years? And suddenly you just march into my life and try and fill my mind with this load of crap about some dead girl I was crazy in love with? No. I love _Andrea. _That's the only girl I've ever loved. I have a _child,_ Yumi. I've got a family to take care of. Lyoko is long gone. It's in the past, and that's where it needs to stay."

"But, Jeremie…"

"No! I've had enough of this." Jeremie stomped on the flower, crushing it into a million pieces of rutted dust. Yumi huffed at the precious tulip's destruction. "If this girl, Aelita or whoever it is, really meant as much to me as you make it out to be… then there's no way I wouldn't remember a single thing about her."

Jeremie stormed out of the supercomputer room, his veins coursing with rage. Yumi chased after him, attempting to stop him and talk sense into him, but it was no use. He rushed into the elevator, closing the doors on Yumi before she could make it to the cart in time.

"_You've forgotten me, Jeremie… you promised you'd never forget."_

"Who said that?!" Jeremie cried, looking around the cramped elevator for the source of the voice. "Look lady, I'm getting real tired of your games."

"_You promised you'd never forget."_

"I CAN'T FORGET SOMEONE I NEVER KNEW!" Jeremie wrathfully screamed, running out of the elevator and scuttling up the ropes of the factory.

"Jeremie, WAIT!" Yumi cried, having finally caught up to him.

"Leave me alone, Yumi!"

Jeremie skipped off of the rope and onto the upper floor, running out onto the bridge. The crickets chirped throughout the night time atmosphere, a gentle wind coursing through the sky that sent shivers up Jeremie's spine as he dashed across the channel.

"JEREMIE!" Yumi's cries to him became frantic, but he paid no attention. He let himself become lost in his footsteps, scampering off into the night. He stopped to catch his breath at one point, realizing that Yumi had not stopped in her quest to meet up with him. He rolled his eyes at her.

"Jeremie! JEREMIE!" She desperately shrieked, waving her arms and she ran towards him.

"WHAT!?" Jeremie roared, turning around to glare at her.

"JEREMIE, BEHIND YOU!"

Jeremie tried to turn around, but before he even had the chance a loud horn wailed throughout the air and a blinding set of headlights rushed across the street, throwing him onto the rugged asphalt. Yumi screeched and hurried to his side, kneeling beside him and shaking him to get a response. There was nothing.

Just like that, Jeremie was gone.

"_Jeremie, wake up…"_

"_Wake up."_


	25. The Awakening

"He's… he's opening his eyes! HE'S OPENING HIS EYES! NURSE!"

The light pierced the center of Jeremie's weary eyes that had grown accustomed to darkness as he struggled to bring his eyelids to a complete open stance. The blurred image of a black haired woman hovered above him, her bright smile beaming down at him and making it even more challenging to expose his sensitive eyeballs.

"I… uh…" he groaned, wincing at the slight pain from all of the sudden and excruciating brightness. "Yumi?"

"Jeremie! OH MY GOD!" Yumi cried with such bliss, as if she hadn't seen him in years. All of the loud noises bothered him as much as the light, the constant chatter from the people around him, the excited squeals of delight, the sound of his heart monitor, all clashing together against his eardrums.

"Did you… uh… did you bring me here? After the… car…"

"The car? What car, Jeremie?"

The doctor eagerly scuttled into the room after hearing the announcement from the nurse. He shined a flashlight into his eyes, tracking the motions of his pupils. Jeremie squinted and looked away. The room around him spun, and he was both disordered and slightly nauseous.

"This is remarkable," the doctor responded.

"Huh?" Jeremie groggily moaned. "What happened to the… the guy… in the truck?"

"Truck? What is he talking about, a truck?" The nurse and doctor mumbled something to each other under their breaths, but they spoke far too softly for Jeremie's ears to pick up their words. He wasn't even alert enough to understand their dialect either way. Jeremie observed their emotions; they expressed both confusion and astonishment. He couldn't understand what the big deal was, was the accident _that _bad?

"I'm not sure. Mr. Belpois, do you know where you are?" The nurse gently asked.

"I'm in a hospital… I got hit by a car."

"Well, he's got the first part right," the nurse affirmed as he turned her heard towards the doctor.

Jeremie slowly brought himself up in his bed, with nurse quickly running over to him and assisting him as if he were going to break his back with one simple movement. He heavily rubbed his eyes, blinking rapidly to adjust. For some reason, it was so hard for him to keep his eyes open, as if they had been staring at darkness for several months. He looked around him, the room still somewhat spinning, and noticed something unusual about Yumi compared to the last time he had seen her.

She was still a teenager.

"Y…Yumi? You're not… You're not old…."

"Uh… no. You haven't been out _that _long, Jeremie."

"JEREMIE!" Ulrich screamed as he dropped the smoldering cup of coffee onto the tiled floor, staring in awe at the blond boy who had finally awoken. "He's… he's awake!" Odd quickly followed behind Ulrich, having expected a quick snack and instead his eyes met the shock of a lifetime. He spat out his mouthful of potato chips at the outrageous sight.

"Our sleeping beauty is finally awake! No way!"

Ulrich and Odd sprinted to Jeremie's bed side, awing in happiness. Jeremie couldn't understand why all of his friends acted like they had never seen him before. The disoriented boy sat in bed, raising an eyebrow as he watched Ulrich and Yumi pull each other into a loving hug and Odd jumped up and down with glee. Why was Odd even here? Yumi said they weren't friends anymore. He was _so _confused. Pain throbbed throughout his aching head, and he rubbed his temples to relieve the compression. At this sight, the nurse shooed the others away from him.

"Don't crowd him; he's going to be very delirious."

"The nurse is right; we should give him some space. Three people at once is probably too much," Yumi calmly agreed, although it was clear she was still on the verge of jumping out of her pants with joy.

"Three people for sure… but I bet _one_ person would be okay…" Odd gleamed at Yumi and Ulrich, who immediately nodded their heads in response.

"Quick! Let's go get her! She's going to be _so _overjoyed! This is amazing!"

Jeremie gaped at the doorframe as the solid flap swung back and forth between the entrance after his three friends had raced outside. He held his head in agony as he tried to adjust to the situation, the last thing Jeremie remembered was having a child, being married to Andrea, and then suddenly rekindling with an old friend before being hit by a truck. With the amount of force from that oversized vehicle, Jeremie wouldn't be alive right now if that had actually happened. Judging by the looks on the nurse, doctor, and all of his friends… it _hadn't _happened.

Jeremie took a better look at himself and realized he was still inside his scrawny, thirteen year old body. If he was still thirteen, he sure as hell didn't have a kid, or a wife. He began to tremble with distress as the recollection of events coursed throughout his nervous system.

_"Jeremie, will you tell me what love is?"_

"_This must be snow! Oh it's so wonderful, Jeremie!"_

"Pistachio is my favorite flavor!"

"_Why is there water coming from the sky?"_

"_Have you loved someone before, Jeremie?"_

"_I never want this to end."_

"_I love you, Jeremie!"_

Jeremie's heart pounded against his ribs. Was… was Aelita… _alive?  
_

"…Jeremie?"

The pink haired girl cautiously stood in the frame of the door, staring at the tired young boy who sat upright in his hospital bed. The cup of hot chocolate she had gone to retrieve slid right out of her hand, toppling onto the floor as the steady stream mixed with the puddle of coffee. Her heart, too, began to thump inside her chest. Her cheeks grew warm and flushed a pink brighter than her hair as she became stunned with a sensation of happiness and completeness. It was if she had become whole again; as if she had finally found her missing puzzle piece.

Jeremie's eyes varnished over with anticipation and enchantment. The woman that just a minute ago he believed he would never see in flesh and blood again was standing just across from him.

"Aelita…" he gasped. Waiting not one second, she screamed with joy and ran over to his bedside, tightly wrapping her arms around him. The tears began gushing down her face as she happily sobbed against him.

"Oh, Jeremie! You're awake! I was beginning to lose hope!"

Jeremie loosened his grip on her, perplexed by her statements. "What do you mean _I'm _awake? You… you were the one asleep!" Aelita backed away from Jeremie and observed his baffled look. She could tell he had no idea what was going on.

"Jeremie… do you have any idea what happened?"

"Well, after I injected you with your anti-virus, XANA managed to trap you inside Lyoko and you're your physical body here on Earth, empty… and after another failed attempt at trying to save you, he managed to shut the computer off long enough to… to ki… kill you."

"Jeremie," she started as she dabbed away the tears from her sparkling pink cheeks. "_You _were the one in a coma."

Jeremie's posture in his bed stiffened, his eyes flaring to the size of watermelons as he tried to take in the words Aelita had just spoken. "I… what?"

"You _were_ working on my anti-virus… and as usual, refusing to let yourself get proper sleep. You started running on an hour or two a night, or sometimes, nothing at all… eventually, your body just… it just gave out. I walked into your room to get you up for school… and I couldn't wake you up. The doctors couldn't really figure anything out, they just assumed you had burnt yourself out, taken your body too far… they said you would probably never wake up." Aelita sighed and rubbed her right hand up and down her left arm as she kept her sorrowful eyes glued to the floor. "But… I never left your side. I found time to visit you every single day. I was just so afraid I'd never see you again."

"So… so, everything that I thought happened… it was just a dream?"

"I guess so…"

"How long was I in a coma?"

"Oh, I don't really know… I tried to avoid counting. It's been at least six months."

Jeremie spat. "Six months!? Oh my God! How have you guys been battling XANA? I've missed so much!"

"The same way we always did. Ulrich and Yumi learned how to operate the supercomputer, well, decently enough anyways. And I still deactivate towers the same way I always did. You didn't miss much, but, I sure missed you…"

"No, Aelita. _I _missed _you. _I may have been the one in a coma, but to me, it still felt as if I had lost you for good. And it felt so incredibly real. I could never bear losing you, Aelita."

Tears began to flow aplenty from her green eyes. She threw herself into Jeremie, never wanting to leave the comforting warmth of his embrace ever again. Jeremie, too, began to cry along with her. The woman he had thought he had lost forever was in actuality still around, and would be for a very long time. After a long, tear filled moment; Aelita reluctantly pushed herself out of Jeremie's arms.

"Jeremie?"

"Yes, Aelita?"

"I know you told me that water flows from your eyes when you are sad. But, if that's the case, why is there water coming from my eyes right now? I'm certainly not sad."

Jeremie purely chuckled at her inquiry. She was still just as naïve as he pictured in his dreams. He gently tilted her chin towards him with his index finger and thumb, gazing into her iridescent emerald eyes that had become cultured with jubilant desire.

"I love you, Aelita."

The multiple shades of green in Aelita's irises twinkled among hearing Jeremie confidently utter those three words. Her trembling smile erupted into a full-blown grin, and she wiped away her tears onto her sleeves as she repeated the words.

"I love you, too. You know, Jeremie, I talked to you every single day. I would just sit here and reminisce about the wonderful moments I got to share with you while you were still awake, and the beautiful things you introduced me to… and sometimes, I would sit here and whisper into your ears, pleading for you to wake up. But… who knows if it actually got through."

All of the gaps in Jeremie's memory filled up like a mountain of sand pouring into a hole. He peered at Aelita with a modest smile on his face before taking her back into his arms once again, holding her as tightly as he possibly could. She nuzzled herself against his chest, inhaling and exhaling deeply as the luxury of his cuddle thoroughly relaxed her body.

"It got through, Aelita. It got through."

_The End_


End file.
